Communication system, communication method, distribution apparatus, distribution method and terminal apparatus

ABSTRACT

A communication system includes a first storage section for storing a plurality of pieces of contents information, a second storage section for storing a plurality of pieces of contents information, a control section for accessing the contents information stored in the first storage section and the second storage section based on a single set of management information for managing the contents information stored in the first storage section and the second storage section, a communication section for interconnecting the first storage section, the second storage section and the control section for communication, and an accounting setting section for setting an amount of money to be imposed on a predetermined user in response to use of the first storage section or the second storage section.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/829,239,filed on Apr. 9, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,996,563.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a communication system, a communicationmethod, a distribution apparatus, a distribution method and a terminalapparatus for principally distributing audio data such as, for example,music data.

In recent years, a data distribution service called EMD (ElectronicMusic Distribution) which makes use of a network such as, for example,the Internet or satellite broadcasting has been proposed and started.

In a system for the EMD, for example, the distribution undertaker sideprovides a server for storing audio data of tunes as contents data fordistribution. Meanwhile, a personal user owns a recording medium or apersonal terminal apparatus which functions as a playback apparatushaving a built-in recording medium. The personal user typicallyconcludes a purchasing contract of desired contents data with the serverside and issues a downloading request to the server. In response to thedownloading request, the server side performs accounting setting andperforms uploading of the contents data of an object of the request.Finally, the tune data is recorded onto the recording medium owned bythe user or onto the recording medium built in the personal terminalapparatus. In other words, as viewed from the user side, the purchasedcontents data is actually acquired successfully.

As things stand, the form of the purchasing contract of contents data inthe EMD is so-called “purchase per download” wherein, when contents datais purchased (downloaded) in a unit of a tune, the purchase isestablished and no more contract remains. In other words, for example,if a user purchases and downloads certain contents data of only onetune, then a trade regarding provision of the contents data throughdownloading is performed. It is to be noted that, in the form of“purchase per download”, the number of playback times, the playbackperiod or the like is sometimes restricted depending upon the intentionof the proprietor of the copyright or the like.

In the EMD in the form of “purchase per download” described above,accounting setting is performed, for example, for downloading of onecontents data performed once by a user, and also the server sideperforms data management and user management in conformity with such acontract form as described above. Therefore, for example, such adisadvantage may possibly occur.

It is assumed that, for example, a user erases contents data purchasedby downloading once by some operation miss or for some convenience'sake.

According to the form of the “purchase per download” described above,such a miss of the user side as just described is irrevocable.Accordingly, if the user wants the contents data erased once in thismanner, then the user must purchase and download the contents data onceagain.

More particularly, it is assumed that, for example, although the userside downloads many contents data, since the capacity of a storagemedium or a storage apparatus owned by the user is small, there remainsno room in the capacity to store and keep downloaded contents data anymore.

In this instance, the user cannot download new contents data unless theuser selectively erases some of the downloaded and stored contents data.In other words, the user is urged to select the contents data downloadedby the user him/herself. Then, if the contents data erased at this timeis required once again, then the user must still conclude a purchasingcontract and download the contents data again.

In this manner, the form of the “purchase per download” at presentprovides a kind of inconvenience to users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a communicationsystem, a communication method, a distribution apparatus, a distributionmethod and a terminal apparatus by which a distribution service notmerely of the form of the “purchase per download” but of another formwherein re-downloading of contents data, for example, erased by the userside is warranted can be provided.

In order to attain the object described above, according to an aspect ofthe present invention, there is provided a communication system,comprising first storage means for storing a plurality of pieces ofcontents information, second storage means for storing a plurality ofpieces of contents information, control means for accessing the contentsinformation stored in the first storage means and the second storagemeans based on a single set of management information for managing thecontents information stored in the first storage means and the secondstorage means, communication means for interconnecting the first storagemeans, the second storage means and the control means for communication,and accounting setting means for setting an amount of money to beimposed on a predetermined user in response to use of the first storagemeans or the second storage means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda communication method, comprising the steps of accessing contentsinformation stored in first storage means and second storage means basedon a single set of management information for managing the contentsinformation stored in the first storage means and the second storagemeans, and setting an amount of money to be imposed on a user of thefirst storage means or the second storage means in response to acapacity of use of the first storage means or the second storage meansby the user.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a distribution apparatus, comprising storage means for storinga plurality of pieces of contents information, communication means forconnecting the distribution apparatus for communication to an externalapparatus, and control means for accessing the contents informationstored in the storage means based on management information for managingthe contents information stored in the storage means in response to auser request from the external apparatus, wherein the control meansproduces management information for each user in response to an accessto the contents information in accordance with the user request andstores the produced management information into the storage means, themanagement information including at least an ID of the user and anaddress representative of a storage location of the contents informationstored in the storage means.

According to a still further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a distribution method for distributing desired contentsinformation in response to a user request, comprising the steps ofaccessing the contents information stored in storage means based onmanagement information for managing the contents information stored inthe storage means in response to a user request from an externalapparatus, producing management information for each user in response tothe access to the contents information, and transmitting the accessedcontents information to the external apparatus, wherein the managementinformation includes at least an ID of the user and an addressrepresentative of a storage location of the contents information storedin the storage means.

According to a yet further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a terminal apparatus for receiving contents information from adistribution apparatus, comprising storage means for storing a pluralityof pieces of contents information, communication means for receiving aplurality of contents IDs stored in the distribution apparatus from thedistribution apparatus and transmitting at least one contents ID to thedistribution apparatus in response to a user request, and control meansfor controlling the communication means to transmit at least onecontents ID to the distribution apparatus in response to a user requestand storing addresses corresponding to the contents IDs received fromthe distribution apparatus into the storage means, wherein the controlmeans controls the communication means to transmit the addresses storedin the storage means to the distribution apparatus when the terminalapparatus requests the distribution apparatus for contents informationcorresponding to the contents ID.

According to a yet further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a communication method for receiving contents information froma distribution apparatus, comprising the steps of receiving a pluralityof contents IDs stored in the distribution apparatus from thedistribution apparatus, transmitting at least one contents ID to thedistribution apparatus in response to a user request, storing addressescorresponding to the contents IDs received from the distributionapparatus into storage means, and transmitting the addresses stored inthe storage means to the distribution apparatus when a request tore-send the contents information corresponding to any of the contentsIDs is issued.

According to the present invention, a terminal apparatus and adistribution apparatus side commonly have one management data with whichcontents data stored in both of the terminal apparatus and thedistribution apparatus can be managed, and each of the terminalapparatus and the distribution apparatus can be accessed based on themanagement data. This signifies that accessing to contents in order topurchase contents data or the like is performed based on the managementdata, and therefore, for example, management of contents datatransferred between the distribution apparatus and the terminalapparatus can be performed solely by the terminal apparatus side or thedistribution apparatus side. Further, according to the presentinvention, accounting setting is performed in accordance with a storagecapacity of a storage section of the distribution terminal apparatuswhich can be accessed by the terminal apparatus side. This signifiesthat, for example, an amount of money is imposed for a capacity of avirtual warehouse into which contents data whose right is purchased by auser is deposited. Consequently, for example, the distribution side canadministrate a new data distribution business which cannot be obtainedby distribution of contents according to the “purchase per download”till now. Also the user can use the distribution system in a highlyconvenient manner of utilization in that contents data purchased by theuser him/herself is managed utilizing the warehouse.

Further, in the present invention, contents data designated from theterminal apparatus side can be downloaded in such a manner as to copy ormove under the configuration described above. Accordingly, also upondownloading, an operation of designating contents to be downloaded or alike operation is facilitated since such accessing based on themanagement data as described above can be performed.

Further, although a distribution system sometimes requires anauthentication process when an access request is received, according tothe present invention, an authentication process based on the managementdata described above can be performed.

Further, when accounting setting is to be performed based on a capacityof use of the storage capacity of the distribution apparatus used by theterminal apparatus, an amount of money is imposed, for example, for afixed capacity prescribed in accordance with a contract in advance. Asan alternative, accounting setting may be performed in accordance with acapacity of use of the storage capacity which varies depending upon aresult of accessing. In this manner, the accounting setting of thecapacity of use has some degree of freedom, and an accounting rule whichis appropriate, for example, for the administration of the distributionsystem or the convenience to the user can be set.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, a system by which notcontents data is traded by the “purchase per download” but a right ofcontents data is traded is constructed, and the user can access thedistribution apparatus side based on the right to download the contentsdata again and conversely deposit the contents data to the distributionapparatus side. Thus, for example, if the storage capacity of the userside is not sufficient and therefore the user erases, for example,certain contents data, only if the right of the contents data is kept,then the user can receive supply of the contents data from thedistribution apparatus side without purchasing the contents data newly.Consequently, a service which cannot be achieved by the “purchase perdownload” till now can be provided, and an advantage which cannotconventionally be enjoyed by the user can be anticipated. Together withthis, new administration of accounting for management of rights (tunewarehouse management) can be anticipated.

Where information of such purchase of rights of contents is possessed bythe distribution apparatus side, even if, for example, the user of theterminal apparatus loses its contents data or right information of suchcontents data in error, if the distribution side apparatus is accessedfrom the user side, then it can restore the lost contents data or right,which raises the value of the service.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the following description and theappended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich like parts or elements denoted by like reference symbols.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration showing an example of configurationof a data distribution system to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of internal construction ofseveral apparatus which form the data distribution system of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic views illustrating an example of operationscreen used to purchase contents data (a right of a tune);

FIGS. 4A to 4C are views, similar to FIGS. 3A and 3B, but showingdifferent operation screens used to deposit and return contents datainto and from a tune warehouse;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating an example of configurationof databases provided in a server shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a process transition diagram illustrating processes between adistribution center and the user side in the data distribution system ofFIG. 1 when contents data (a right of a tune) is purchased;

FIG. 7 is a diagram, similar to FIG. 6, but illustrating processesbetween the distribution center and the user side in the datadistribution system of FIG. 1 when contents data is deposited into atune warehouse;

FIG. 8 is a similar view but illustrating processes between thedistribution center and the user side in the data distribution system ofFIG. 1 when contents data is returned from the tune warehouse;

FIGS. 9A to 9E are diagrammatic views illustrating a concept of a TOC inthe data distribution system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic view illustrating an example of structure of aTOC (first TOC) in the data distribution system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is view, similar to FIG. 10, but illustrating an example ofstructure of another TOC (second TOC) in the data distribution system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart illustrating processing operation betweendifferent component apparatus of the data distribution system of FIG. 1principally in regard to accessing upon downloading of contents databased on the TOC;

FIGS. 13A to 13D are diagrammatic views illustrating a concept ofanother TOC;

FIG. 14 is a diagrammatic view illustrating another example of structureof a TOC; and

FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration showing an example of configurationof another data distribution system to which the present invention isapplied.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, embodiments of the present invention are described.The embodiments described below are formed as a data distribution systemfor distributing contents data principally including audio data oftunes.

The description proceeds in the following order.

-   -   1. Data Distribution System        -   1-1. General Configuration        -   1-2. Internal Configuration        -   1-3. Example of Utilization Form of Contents Distribution            Service        -   1-4. Database Configuration of Server    -   2. Contents Purchasing Process    -   3. Contents Depositing Process    -   4. Contents Returning Process    -   5. Management Data of the Embodiment        -   5-1. Example of Management Data Structure        -   5-2. Example of Data Distribution Process Based on            Management Data    -   6. Modifications

1. Data Distribution System

1-1. General Configuration

FIG. 1 generally shows an example of construction of a data distributionsystem to which the present invention is applied.

Referring to FIG. 1, a server 1 includes a recording medium of a largecapacity for storing contents data as distribution contents in such amanner as hereinafter described and has databases for managing adistribution situation of the contents data.

The contents data here typically are principally audio data of tunes andhere are supplied typically from a record production company not shown.It is to be noted that the contents data may include, for example, inaddition to tune data, text data or image data, for example, of thewords or jackets relating to the tune data.

The server 1 is constructed for communication with a large number ofdistribution terminal apparatus 2 over a communication network 4. Theserver 1 transmits contents data to a distribution terminal apparatus 2over the communication network 4. It is to be noted that, in the systemconfiguration shown in FIG. 1, equipments wherein the distributionterminal apparatus 2 and the server 1 are connected for mutualcommunication are owned by the undertaker side which providesdistribution services of contents data. In the following description,the equipments of the undertaker side are referred to as “distributioncenter”.

It is to be noted that, in the present embodiment, a portable terminalapparatus 3 which is hereinafter described can perform communicationdirectly with the server 1 to transmit and receive contents data withoutintervention of the distribution terminal apparatus 2.

Further, in the present embodiment, also it is possible to downloadcontents data stored in the distribution center (server 1 anddistribution terminal apparatus 2) side into the portable terminalapparatus 3 and to return contents data stored in the portable terminalapparatus 3 to the distribution center side while the acquired right ofthe contents data is maintained, that is, to “deposit” contents datawhose right is owned by the user into the distribution center. When suchprocessing regarding contents data as just described is performed, acharge is imposed on the user. To this end, in the present embodiment,an accounting communication network 5 is provided for collecting acharge from the user in accordance with an accounting process. Theaccounting communication network 5 is connected, for example, to afinancial institution with which each user has concluded a contract topay a charge for use of the information distribution system. Althoughthe accounting communication network 5 is shown connected to the server1, it may otherwise be connected to the communication network 4. In thisinstance, accounting regarding a situation of use of a distributionterminal apparatus 2 or a portable terminal apparatus 3 can be processedwithout intervention of the server 1.

Each of the distribution terminal apparatus 2 is actually located at aplace where a user during moving can access the distribution terminalapparatus 2 readily such as, for example, a shop such as a conveniencestore or a drive-inn. The distribution terminal apparatus 2 has such aform as seen in FIG. 1 so that a portable terminal apparatus 3 can bemounted onto a mounting portion 220 and allows mutual communication withthe thus mounted portable terminal apparatus 3.

Then, if a request to download contents data, for example, into theportable terminal apparatus 3 mounted on the distribution terminalapparatus 2 is issued, then the distribution terminal apparatus 2 cansend the request to the server 1 so that the requested contents data istransferred from the server 1 and can transfer the received contentsdata to the portable terminal apparatus 3 so that the contents data areuploaded into the portable terminal apparatus 3. On the contrary, if arequest to deposit contents data stored in the portable terminalapparatus 3 back into the distribution center side is issued, then theportable terminal apparatus 3 executes a process for the back depositionwhile it performs, for example, communication for cooperating with theserver 1 if necessary.

It is to be noted that such requests regarding transfer of contents datadescribed above can be generated, for example, by operating an operationsection 302 provided on the portable terminal apparatus 3 or anoperation section 202 provided on the distribution terminal apparatus 2.Further, when any of such operations is performed, contentscorresponding to the operation are displayed on a display section 301 ofthe portable terminal apparatus 3 or a display section 203 of thedistribution terminal apparatus 2.

The portable terminal apparatus 3 of the present embodiment can mutuallycommunicate with the distribution terminal apparatus 2 when it ismounted on (connected to) the distribution terminal apparatus 2. Theportable terminal apparatus 3 can further communicate with the server 1through the distribution terminal apparatus 2. Thus, the portableterminal apparatus 3 stores information as contents data outputted fromthe distribution terminal apparatus 2 in such a manner as describedabove onto a predetermined type of recording medium built therein.

In this manner, the information distribution system of the presentembodiment can realize so-called data on-demand that, from within alarge amount of information stored in the server 1, information ascontents data requested by the user of the portable terminal apparatus 3can be downloaded onto the recording medium of the portable terminalapparatus 3.

It is to be noted that the communication network 4 described above isnot particularly limited, and for example, an ISDN (Integrated ServicesDigital Network), a CATV (Cable Television Community AntennaTelevision), a communication satellite, a telephone network, wirelesscommunication or the like can be utilized for the communication network4.

Further, while, in the present embodiment, the storage medium is builtin the portable terminal apparatus 3, alternatively a movable storagemedium may be loaded in the portable terminal apparatus 3. Further, thetype of the storage medium may be a magnetic disk such as a hard disk,an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a memory (semiconductormemory, magnetic memory or optical memory). Further, where the storagemedium is a semiconductor memory, it may be a smart media (trademark)having a flash memory built therein, a compact flash (trademark), amemory stick (trademark) having a flash memory and a memory controllerbuilt therein, or an SD card (trademark).

1-2. Internal Configuration

FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of the server 1, distributionterminal apparatus 2 and portable terminal apparatus 3 describedhereinabove with reference to FIG. 1.

The server 1 is described first.

Referring to FIG. 2, the server 1 includes a control section 101, astorage section 102, a search section 103, an authentication processingsection 104, an accounting processing section 105 and an interfacesection 106. The functioning circuit sections are connected fortransmission/reception of data therebetween over a bus line 107.

The control section 101 includes, for example, a microcomputer and soforth and executes control of the functioning circuit sections of theserver 1 in response to various kinds of information supplied theretofrom the communication network 4 through the interface section 106.

The interface section 106 is provided for mutual communication with thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 over the communication network 4. Itis to be noted that the transmission protocol upon transmission may be aunique protocol or may be the TCP/IP (Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol) which is universally used on the Internet ora like protocol by which data are transmitted in the form of a packet.

The search section 103 executes a process of searching for required datafrom data stored in the storage section 102 under the control of thecontrol section 101. For example, the searching process is performedbased on request data transmitted, for example, from the distributionterminal apparatus 2 and inputted to the control section 101 from thecommunication network 4 through the interface section 106.

The storage section 102 includes, for example, a recording medium of alarge capacity, a driver apparatus for driving the recording medium andso forth and has a contents data storage area 110 into which contentsdata for distribution described hereinabove are stored. The storagesection 102 further has a database storage area 111 into which requiredinformation beginning with information regarding users such as an ID(hereinafter referred to as “user ID”) set for each user, that is, foreach portable terminal apparatus 3, various kinds of information formanaging contents data acquired as a right by each user and accountingsetting information is stored as a database.

Here, although the recording medium adopted by the storage section 102may possibly be a magnetic tape or the like which is used forbroadcasting appliances at present, in order to implement the on-demandfunction which is one of characteristics of the present system,preferably a hard disk, an IC memory, an optical disk, a magneto-opticaldisk or a like medium which can be accessed at random is adopted.

Further, since it is necessary to record a large amount of data,preferably the data stored in the storage section 102 are digitalcompressed data. While various compression methods for audio data areavailable such as the ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding), theATRAC2, the ATRAC3, the TwinVQ (Transform domain Weighted InterleaveVector Quantization) (trademark), the MPEG-2AAC (Moving Picture ExpertsGroup—2 Advanced Audio Coding) (trademark), the MP3 (MPEG-1 AudioLayer3) (trademark), and the MS Audio (WMA: Windows Media Audio)(trademark), the compression method is not particularly limited to acompression technique, for example, if decompression is possible on thedistribution terminal apparatus side. Further, the compression methodwhere video data are stored in the storage section 102 may be the MPEG4,the MPEG7, the JPEG, the JPEG200 or compression which uses wavelettransformation or the like.

The authentication processing section 104 performs comparison, forexample, between a user ID transmitted thereto together with requestdata and user IDs (for example, stored in the database of the storagesection 102) of the portable terminal apparatus 3 which can utilize theinformation distribution system of the present embodiment at present toauthenticate whether or not the portable terminal apparatus 3 which hasissued the request is a legal one, and outputs a result of theauthentication process to the control section 101. The control section101 sets based on the result of the authentication whether or notutilization of the distribution center by the portable terminalapparatus 3 should be permitted.

The accounting processing section 105 performs a process for imposing anamount of money in accordance with utilization of the informationdistribution system by the user who owns the portable terminal apparatus3 under the control of the control section 101. For example, ifrequesting information for purchase of contents data is supplied fromthe distribution terminal apparatus 2 to the server 1 over thecommunication network 4, then the control section 101 communicatesnecessary information in response to the requesting information. In thisinstance, the control section 101 grasps an actual utilization situationbased on the communicated information and controls so that an amount ofmoney conforming to contents of the utilization may be set by theaccounting processing section 105 in accordance with a predeterminedrule.

Now, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 is described.

The distribution terminal apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 2 includes anoperation section 202, a display section 203, a control section 207, astorage section 208, an interface section 209, a power supply section210 (including, for example, a charging circuit), and a mountingdiscrimination section 211 which are connected to each other by a busline 212.

The control section 207 includes a microcomputer and other necessaryelements and controls operation of the functioning circuit sections inthe distribution terminal apparatus 2 when necessary.

The interface section 209 is interposed between a communication controlterminal 201 and an information input/output terminal 205 and allowsmutual communication with the server 1 over the communication network 4and mutual communication with the portable terminal apparatus 3. Inother words, an environment wherein the server 1 and the portableterminal apparatus 3 can communicate with each other through theinterface section 209 is obtained.

Also the storage section 208 in this instance can store a comparativelygreat amount of data so that, for example, contents data transferredonce from the server 1 and downloaded in the portable terminal apparatus3 can be stored in the storage section 208. Further, also managementinformation regarding the portable terminal apparatus 3 and somedatabases obtained using the distribution terminal apparatus 2 can bestored in the storage section 208.

For example, if a request to download contents data is received from aportable terminal apparatus 3 connected to the distribution terminalapparatus 2, then if the contents data of an object of the request isstored already in the storage section 208, then downloading can becompleted by data transfer between the distribution terminal apparatus 2and the portable terminal apparatus 3 without accessing the server 1,and reduction of the time required for the downloading and reduction ofthe burden on the server 1 side can be achieved as much. Further, inthis instance, if information regarding the portable terminal apparatus3 owned by the user is stored in the distribution terminal apparatus 2,then it is not necessary to access the server 1 and further access theportable terminal apparatus 3 in order to obtain information of the usereither.

The storage section 208 may include, for example, a memory so thatrequired information transmitted from the server 1 or a portableterminal apparatus 3 can be temporarily stored. Writing and reading outcontrol into and from the storage section 208 is executed by the controlsection 207.

The power supply section 210 includes, for example, a switchingconverter and so forth, and receives a commercial ac power supply notshown, produces a dc power supply of a predetermined voltage andsupplies the dc power supply as an operating power supply to thefunctional circuit sections of the distribution terminal apparatus 2.The power supply section 210 includes a charging circuit for charging abattery built in the portable terminal apparatus 3 side and can thussupply charging power from a power supply terminal 206 to the portableterminal apparatus 3 through a power supply input terminal 307 of theportable terminal apparatus 3. In this instance, required operation ofthe power supply section 210 (and charging circuit) is controlled by thecontrol section 207.

The mounting discrimination section 211 discriminates amounted/non-mounted state of a portable terminal apparatus 3 on themounting portion 220 of the distribution terminal apparatus 2. Themounting discrimination section 211 may include such a mechanism as, forexample, a photo-interrupter or a mechanical switch or may detect aconducting state of a predetermined terminal included, for example, inthe power supply terminal 206 or the information input/output terminal205 which is established when the portable terminal apparatus 3 ismounted appropriately on the distribution terminal apparatus 2.

The operation section 202 includes operation means such as, for example,various keys and so forth or a touch panel, and information of anoperation performed for the operation section 202 is supplied to thecontrol section 207 over the bus line 212. The control section 207executes required control processing suitably in response to theoperation information supplied thereto.

The display section 203 is provided on the distribution terminalapparatus 2 in such a manner that it is exposed on the body of thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 as described hereinabove withreference to FIG. 1 and includes a display device such as, for example,a liquid crystal display unit or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), a displaydriver section for the display device and so forth. Displaying operationof the display section 203 is controlled by the control section 207.

Now, the portable terminal apparatus 3 is described.

When the portable terminal apparatus 3 shown in FIG. 2 is mounted on adistribution terminal apparatus 2 in such a manner as describedhereinabove with reference to FIG. 1, it is connected for communicationof data with the distribution terminal apparatus 2 through theinformation input/output terminals 205 and 306, and charging power issupplied from the power supply section 210 of the distribution terminalapparatus 2 to the portable terminal apparatus 3 through the powersupply terminal 206 and the power supply input terminal 307.

Further, in FIG. 2, the portable terminal apparatus 3 shown isconstructed such that a control section 311, a ROM 312, a RAM 313, asignal processing section 314, a pair of I/O ports 317 and 318, abattery circuit section 319, a display section 301 and an operationsection 302 are connected to each other by a bus line 321.

Also in this instance, the control section 311 includes a microcomputerand so forth and executes control of operation of the functioningsections in the portable terminal apparatus 3.

The ROM 312 stores, for example, program data and information of variousdatabases and so forth necessary for the control section 311 to executerequired control processing. The RAM 313 temporarily stores requireddata to be communicated with the distribution terminal apparatus 2 anddata produced by processing of the control section 311.

The I/O port 317 is provided to allow mutual communication with thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 (or the server 1) through aninformation input/output terminal 306. Information to be transmitted toor received from the portable terminal apparatus 3 and data to bedownloaded are inputted and outputted through the I/O port 317.

A storage section 320 provided in the portable terminal apparatus 3includes a driver for performing recording onto or playback from apredetermined recording medium and other necessary elements and isprovided to store information downloaded from the server 1 through thedistribution terminal apparatus 2.

It is to be noted that also the recording medium adopted by the storagesection 320 is not limited to a particular one. However, also in thisinstance, where the random accessibility is taken into consideration,for example, a recording medium which adopts a memory element such as aflash memory or a recording medium which allows random accessing such asa hard disk or an optical disk is adopted preferably.

In the present embodiment, for example, data downloaded in accordancewith a purchasing contract can be stored into the storage section 320.Of the data stored in the storage section 320, audio data can be playedback by means of the portable terminal apparatus 3 and enjoyed. To thisend, the portable terminal apparatus 3 includes the signal processingsection 314.

The signal processing section 314 receives audio data typically read outfrom the storage section 320 over the bus line 321 and performs requiredsignal processing for the audio data. Here, if the audio data stored inthe storage section 320 are data obtained by predetermined encodingincluding compression processing in accordance with a predeterminedform, then the signal processing section 314 performs predetermineddecoding processing including decompression processing for the receivedcompressed audio data and outputs resulting data to a D/A converter 315.The audio data converted into an analog audio signal by the D/Aconverter 315 is supplied to a headphone terminal 309. Here, if aheadphone 8 is connected to the headphone terminal 309, then the playedback downloaded data of a tune or the like can be outputted as sound tothe outside.

The portable terminal apparatus 3 has a microphone terminal 310 providedthereon. For example, if a microphone 12 is connected to the microphoneterminal 310 and sound is inputted to the microphone 12, then the soundsignal is converted into a digital audio signal by an A/D converter 316and inputted to the signal processing section 314.

In this instance, the signal processing section 314 operates so as toperform, for example, compression processing and required encodingprocessing suitable for data writing into the storage section 320 forthe digital input signal inputted thereto. The data obtained by theencoding processing can be stored, for example, into the storage section320 under the control of the control section 311.

The I/O port 318 is provided to allow inputting and outputting of asignal from and to an apparatus which is connected to the outside makinguse of a connector 308. The connector 308 allows connection thereto of,for example, a display apparatus, a keyboard, a modem, or a terminaladapter. This is described in more detail in connection with a form ofutilization of the portable terminal apparatus 3 of the presentembodiment.

The battery circuit section 319 provided in the portable terminalapparatus 3 at least includes a rechargeable battery and a power supplycircuit which makes use of the power of the rechargeable battery tosupply operating power to the functioning sections in the portableterminal apparatus 3.

Where the portable terminal apparatus 3 is mounted on and connected tothe distribution terminal apparatus 2 through the power supply terminal206 and the power supply input terminal 307, power supply in place ofthe rechargeable battery is outputted from the power supply section 210of the distribution terminal apparatus 2 to the battery circuit section319 of the portable terminal apparatus 3. Also charging current to therechargeable battery can be supplied from the power supply section 210to the battery circuit section 319.

The display section 301 and the operation section 302 of the portableterminal apparatus 3 shown in FIG. 2 are provided, for example, on abody of the portable terminal apparatus 3 as shown in FIG. 2, and alsowith the portable terminal apparatus 3, display control of the displaysection 301 is performed by the control section 311. Further, thecontrol section 311 executes required control processing suitably basedon operation information outputted from the operation section 302.

1-3. Database Configuration of Server

According to the data distribution system of the embodiment having theconfiguration described above, a user of a portable terminal apparatus 3purchases contents data of a tune not by “purchase per download” but canpurchase a right of contents data, for example, of each tune. Thecontents data whose right is owned by the user can be downloaded to theportable terminal apparatus 3 when the user wants. Also it is possibleto conversely move contents data downloaded and stored in the portableterminal apparatus 3 apparently so as to be deposited to thedistribution center side. In other words, the distribution center sideperforms data management in such a form that it receives and keepscontents data whose right is owned by a user. Then, if a request toreturn the contents data deposited to the distribution center side isissued from the portable terminal apparatus 3 side, then the contentsdata can be downloaded and stored into the portable terminal apparatus 3again.

In other words, in the present embodiment, warehouse operation wherein auser having a right of contents data of a tune deposits the tune to itstune warehouse virtually provided on the server side or draws out thetune deposited to the tune warehouse is performed.

As a manner of accounting, for example, involved in this, for example,when the right is purchased, a price is set as a consideration for theright, and further, when the tune warehouse is utilized by the user, aprice is set in accordance with such utilization situation to impose acharge.

Thus, a form of utilization of the data distribution system of theembodiment described above is described with reference to FIGS. 3A, 3B,4A, 4B and 4C. It is to be noted that, in the following description, acase wherein a user makes use of a service of the distributions systemof the present embodiment in such a form that a portable terminalapparatus 3 is mounted on a distribution terminal apparatus 2 isdescribed as an example. Further, various operations to be executed bythe user in this instance can be performed by operation of the operationsection 202 provided on the distribution terminal apparatus 2.

As seen in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B and 4C, as display contents of thedisplay section 203 of the distribution terminal apparatus 2 inaccordance with an operation procedure of a user, lists of contents dataof the distribution center side and the portable terminal apparatus 3side are displayed in conformity with a utilization form. The display ofsuch lists is possible even if, for example, the portable terminalapparatus 3 is not mounted on the distribution terminal apparatus 2where management data are shared by the apparatus which construct thesystem in such a manner as hereinafter described. As an example, even ifmanagement data regarding contents data stored in the distributionterminal apparatus 2 is not read in and acquired by the portableterminal apparatus 3 side, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 candisplay lists of contents data of the distribution side and the portableterminal apparatus 3 side in such a manner as described below.

Here, it is assumed that, for example, some user wants to purchasecontents data of a desired tune newly. Thus, it is assumed that, forexample, the user of the portable terminal apparatus 3 performs anoperation for purchasing a right of the tune on the operation section202 of the distribution terminal apparatus 2. Then, an operation screenfor purchasing a right of a tune is displayed, for example; in such amanner as seen in FIG. 3A on the display section 203 of the distributionterminal apparatus 2. It is to be noted that, in this operation, forexample, it is requested to input a user ID, and the user inputs itsuser ID, for example, by mounting the portable terminal apparatus 3 orperforming a predetermined operation. Then, actually in a stage wherein,for example, authentication is obtained based on information of the userID and so forth, the display shown in FIG. 3A is started. This similarlyapplies also when the operation screen of any of FIGS. 3B and 4A to 4Chereinafter described is displayed.

On the operation screen shown in FIG. 3A, a contents list A1 is shown onthe left side. The contents list A1 indicates a list of contents dataprepared by the distribution center side, that is, contents data whichcan be uploaded from the server 1, in a predetermined display form. InFIG. 3A, it is shown that a list of 10 contents data of Music 1 to Music10 presented. It is to be noted that the number of tunes which can beprovided by the distribution center side is actually very large, andactually part of the list of the data is displayed and the portion ofthe displayed list is changed by a predetermined operation.

Further, in FIG. 3A, a cursor crs is displayed on the left side of thecontents list A1. The cursor crs is movable along the designations ofthe contents data displayed in the contents list A1 by a so-called GUIoperation by the user to designate one of the contents data.

A user contents list A2 is displayed on the right side of the operationscreen shown in FIG. 3A. In the user contents list A2, contents datacurrently stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3 mounted on thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 are displayed as a list. In FIG. 3A,it is shown that contents data for five tunes of Music 1, Music 2, Music4, Music 6 and Music 7 are stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3owned by the user.

Between the contents list A1 and the user contents list A2, a purchasebutton BT1 which can be operated by a so-called GUI operation by a useris displayed.

In a state wherein the operation screen for purchasing is displayed inthis manner, the user can discriminate those contents data which can beprovided by the distribution side at present. The user can discriminatealso contents data stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3 owned bythe user-him/herself.

In a state wherein such an operation screen for purchasing as describedabove is displayed, the user can perform a moving operation of thecursor crs to select contents data to be purchased by the userhim/herself from among the titles of the contents data in the contentslist A1. Here, it is assumed that the user selects the Music 9 in thecontents list A1. Then, if the user operates the purchase button BT1,then the display screen changes to such a display screen as seen in FIG.3B.

In FIG. 3B, the title of Music 9 whose purchase has been determined bythe user is additionally displayed in the user contents list A2.

This indicates that, since the user has performed the operation forpurchase determination of the Music 9, the contents data stored in theportable terminal apparatus 3 include the contents data of the Music 9in addition to the contents data which have been stored till that time.In other words, it is indicated that the user has acquired a proprietaryright of the contents data of the Music 9. Then, for example, if theportable terminal apparatus 3 is mounted on the distribution terminalapparatus 2 by the user, then the contents data of the Music 9 is copiedinto the portable terminal apparatus 3 and the storage contentsindicated by the user contents list A2 shown in FIG. 3B are obtained.

It is to be noted that it is actually possible, for example, for theuser to purchase only a right of contents data and keep the contentsdata itself into the tune warehouse of the user him/herself allocated bythe server 1 side without downloading the contents data.

After the user purchases a right of the contents data and downloads thecontents data in such a manner as described above, the user can move thecontents data stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3 of the userhim/herself by the downloading so as to be deposited into the tunewarehouse provided in the distribution center side or re-download thetune data deposited in the tune warehouse. An operation procedure forsuch transfer of contents data between the portable terminal apparatus 3and the tune warehouse is such as, for example, illustrated in FIGS. 4A,4B and 4C.

If it is assumed that the user of the portable terminal apparatus 3performs, for example, a predetermined operation for the distributionterminal apparatus 2 to establish an operation mode for performingtransfer of contents data between the distribution center and thewarehouse, then an operation screen therefor is displayed, for example,in such a manner as seen in FIG. 4A.

On the operation screen shown in FIG. 4A, a warehouse contents list A3is displayed on the left side. The warehouse contents list A3 displayedin this instance indicates contents data whose right has been purchasedby the user who owns the portable terminal apparatus 3 and which aredeposited in the tune warehouse of the user him/herself which isprovided on the distribution center side. Here, five contents data ofthe Music 3, Music 5, Music 8, Music 9 and Music 10 are listed up in thewarehouse contents list A3, and when the user looks at the warehousecontents list A3, it can confirm that the five contents data aredeposited in the warehouse at present.

In contrast, for example, the contents list A1 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3Bindicates a list of those contents data which can be provided by thedistribution center side.

On the right side of the operation screen shown in FIG. 4A, the usercontents list A2 is displayed. The user contents list A2 indicates alist of the contents stored at present in the portable terminalapparatus 3 owned by the user as described hereinabove with reference toFIGS. 3A and 3B.

Further, on the left side of the warehouse contents list A3, a cursorcrs1 for designating the contents in the warehouse contents list A3 isdisplayed, and on the right side of the user contents list A2, a cursorcrs2 for designating the contents in the user contents list A2 isdisplayed.

Two operation buttons of a deposit button BT2 and a return button BT3are displayed between the warehouse contents list A3 and the usercontents list A2.

First, operation when contents data stored in the portable terminalapparatus 3 is to be deposited into the warehouse on the distributioncenter side is described.

In this instance, the user will perform a predetermined operation tomove the cursor crs2 on the user contents list A2 side until it ispositioned at the position of the contents data to be deposited. Here,the cursor crs2 is positioned at the Music 6. Then, in this state, theuser will perform an operation for the deposit button BT2. Consequently,the operation screen changes to such a screen as shown in FIG. 4B.

On the operation screen shown in FIG. 4B, the title of the Music 6 isdeleted from the user contents list A2. Instead, contents data of theMusic 6 is added to the warehouse contents list A3. In other words, itis indicated that apparently the contents data of the Music 6 which hasbeen stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3 is moved to anddeposited into the warehouse on the distribution center side. Then, ifthe portable terminal apparatus 3 is mounted on the distributionterminal apparatus 2 then, the contents data of the Music 6 which hasbeen stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3 is moved to thewarehouse of the distribution center. It is to be noted that, whileactual processing is hereinafter described, briefly describing here, thedatabase contents on the distribution center side are updated so as tobe managed as the contents data of the Music 6 is deposited into thewarehouse while the contents data of the Music 6 which has been storedin the portable terminal apparatus 3 till then are deleted from theportable terminal apparatus 3. Consequently, apparently the contentsdata stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3 is moved to thewarehouse.

In order to return contents data deposited in the warehouse at presentto the portable terminal apparatus 3 side, the user will first operate,for example, the cursor crs1 displayed on the warehouse contents list A3side on the operation screen shown in FIG. 4A to designate the contentsdata to be returned from the warehouse. Here, it is assumed that thecontents data of the Music 9 is designated. In this state, the returnbutton BT3 will be operated.

Consequently, the operation screen changes to such a screen as shown inFIG. 4C. In particular, the contents data of the Music 9 designated bythe user is deleted from the list of the warehouse contents list A3 butis added to the user contents list A2 instead.

Consequently, the user can visually confirm that the contents data ofthe Music 9 has been returned to the portable terminal apparatus 3 sidefrom the warehouse. Further, in this instance, if the portable terminalapparatus 3 is mounted on the distribution terminal apparatus 2, thenthe contents data of the Music 9 is actually uploaded to the portableterminal apparatus 3 from the distribution side, and the portableterminal apparatus 3 stores the contents data of the Music 9. It is tobe noted that, although the entity of the contents data of the Music 9is stored and exists in the server 1 or the distribution terminalapparatus 2, the distribution center side manages the warehouse and thecontents data of the Music 9 has been drawn out from the warehouse ofthe user.

1-4. Database Configuration of Server

In order to allow such warehouse management of the data distributionsystem as described above to be performed, it is necessary, for example,for the distribution center side to have information including rights ofcontents data purchased by users, histories regarding the depositsituations of the contents data, whose rights have been purchased, inthe warehouse and so forth. In the present embodiment, such informationis stored and kept as databases in the database storage area 111 of thestorage section 102 of the server 1.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates contents of the databases stored in thedatabase storage area 111.

The databases include, for example, a contents purchase database 111-1,a deposit situation database 111-2, a user authentication/accountingsettlement database 111-3, a user taste database 111-4, and a commoditydatabase 111-5 associated with each other.

It is to be noted that contents of the databases illustrated in FIG. 5correspond, for example, to one user (portable terminal apparatus 3),and such database contents as seen in FIG. 5 are prepared and stored foreach user. As hereinafter described, each database has information of auser ID so that it may have information corresponding to each user.

The contents purchase database 111-1 stores information regarding apurchase situation of a purchase situation of tune rights by one userand includes information of a user ID, a purchased contents ID,purchased contents name information, purchased contents quantityinformation, purchase history information and so forth.

The user ID is an ID provided by the distribution center side so that,for example, it may be unique to each of users having a portableterminal apparatus 3. The ID specifies the user for whom the contentspurchase database 111-1 is. The user ID is used for authenticationregarding, for example, when the distribution center side is accessed bythe portable terminal apparatus 3 side, whether or not the portableterminal apparatus 3 is a legal one which has a legal contract concludedwith the distribution center side.

Further, the distribution center side manages each contents dataprovided therefrom with a contents ID applied thereto. The purchasedcontents ID is information of contents IDs of contents data (tunes)purchased by the user.

The purchased contents name information is information of names ofcontents data purchased by the user. In this instance, the contents dataare tune data, and accordingly, each contents name may typically be thetitle of the tune.

The purchased contents quantity information is information of a valuerepresentative of the quantity of contents data whose right has beenpurchased by the user.

The purchase history information indicates a purchase history ofcontents data of the user till then. In other words, data eachrepresenting a quantity of contents data represented by the contents IDand the year, month, day and hour of the purchase of the contents dataare managed in a time series.

The contents purchase database 111-1 having such contents as describedabove thus provides information for managing the rights of the contentspurchased by the user. For example, if the purchased contents ID and thepurchased contents quantity information are referred to in a coordinatedrelationship with the user ID, then it is possible to recognize whatquantity of the right of what contents data was purchased by the userindicated by the user ID.

The deposit situation database 111-2 stores information for grasping autilization situation of the tune warehouse provided virtually for theone user on the distribution center side. The deposit situation database111-2 includes, for example, a user ID, warehouse capacity information,deposited contents quantity, a deposited contents ID, deposited contentsname information, deposit history information and deposit frequencyinformation.

The user ID specifies a user similarly as in the contents purchasedatabase 111-1 described above.

The warehouse capacity information is information representative of adata capacity of the tune warehouse used by the user at present.

When the user intends to deposit contents data of a tune, it urges thedistribution center side to allocate a storage capacity which can beused as a warehouse by the user. For example, the capacity of part ofthe area of the control section 101 in the server 1 is allocated as awarehouse to the user. Then, accounting setting upon use of the tunewarehouse is performed principally based on the magnitude of thecapacity of the warehouse.

Here, the setting of the warehouse capacity can be performed in severalmanners.

First, a capacity of a warehouse which can be used by a user within arange of a certain predetermined capacity size is set in accordance witha contract in advance. For example, where the distribution center sidecan allocate 4 MB to the utmost to each user, a user sets a fixedwarehouse capacity such as 2 MB or 3 MB taking use of the warehouse bythe user him/herself and other necessary factors into consideration.Then, the accounting setting is determined in accordance with thewarehouse capacity set by the user.

Second, the warehouse capacity is varied adaptively in response to thedata size of contents deposited into the warehouse by the user. Inparticular, for example, if several contents data are deposited by theuser and the total data size of the deposited contents data is 750 KB,then the accounting setting is performed in accordance with thewarehouse capacity of 750 KB. Then, if some contents data isadditionally deposited later and the resulting total data size of thedeposited contents data is 1 MB, then the accounting setting isperformed in accordance with the warehouse capacity of 1 MB.

The user authentication/accounting settlement database 111-3 hasinformation regarding authentication and accounting of a user. The userauthentication/accounting settlement database 111-3 includes a user ID,non-settled accounting data, an accounting settlement history, asettlement financial institution code and a settlement code. Theinformation is used for management regarding accounting of a userspecified by the user ID. In order to produce the userauthentication/accounting settlement database 111-3, information ofconditions for setting an amount of money to be imposed is required. Theinformation for setting an amount of money to be imposed can beproduced, for example, by inputting the purchased contents ID and thepurchased contents quantity information to be stored into the contentspurchase database 111-1 and the warehouse capacity information to bestored into the deposit situation database 111-2 as seen in FIG. 5. Thepurchased contents ID and the purchased contents quantity informationallow accounting setting to be performed for a right purchased by theuser, and the warehouse capacity information allows accounting settingto be performed in accordance with a use situation of the warehouse.

It is to be noted that the information as the conditions for theaccounting settlement mentioned above is a mere example at all, and anyother information may be used in accordance with a manner of actualoperation of the data distribution system.

Also the accounting settlement may be performed in various manners. Forexample, it is possible to pay the imposed amount of money from adesignated bank account or the like based on a credit card numberregistered in a corresponding relationship to the user ID in advance.More particularly, a server account number corresponding to the server1, a user account number corresponding to the user, an amount of moneyimposed on the user, a server ID and a server password are transmittedfrom the server 1 to a bank center over the accounting communicationnetwork 5. The bank center thus performs an authentication process basedon the server ID and the server password, and if the authentication isperformed successfully, then the bank center deducts the designatedimposed amount of money from an account corresponding to the useraccount number and increases an account corresponding to the serveraccount number with the amount of money thereby to perform a settlementprocess.

Also it is a possible idea, for example, to provide the distributionterminal apparatus 2 with a function for processing a prepaid card andperform an accounting settlement by such processing as to decrease theremaining amount of money from the prepaid card inserted by the user.

The user taste database 111-4 stores information obtained based onrequired information stored in the contents purchase database 111-1 andthe deposit situation database 111-2 for each user and allowing atendency of the taste or the like of a tune to the user who utilizes thedistribution data service to be grasped.

The information of the user taste database 111-4 is actually used, forexample, by an administrator of the distribution center or adistribution source such as a record production company which providescontents data of tunes to the distribution center to designate, forexample, contents data to be provided as commodities to users.

The user taste database 111-4 includes, for example, as seen in FIG. 5,a purchased contents ID, purchased contents quantity information,deposit situation information, a search key, search data, notificationhistory information and so forth for each user specified by a user ID.

The purchased contents ID and the purchased contents quantityinformation are produced from information stored in and received fromthe contents purchase database 111-1 specified by the same user ID. Thedeposit situation information is produced from deposited contentsinformation, a deposited contents ID and deposit frequency informationstored in and received from the deposit situation database 111-2specified by the same user ID.

The search key includes a plurality of search keys extracted inaccordance with a predetermined condition from the purchased contentsID, purchased contents quantity information and deposit situationinformation described above. As an example, from the purchased contentsID and the purchased contents quantity information, a search keyregarding a genre of favorite tune or a favorite artist of the user canbe obtained. More particularly, a search key can be produced byextracting genre information or artist information inserted in part ofcontents data in advance. Meanwhile, from the deposit situationinformation, a search key for searching to which genre or artist a tunewhich is moved into and out of the tune warehouse with a high frequencybelongs can be obtained. A similar method of extracting a search key tothat described above can be used.

The search data represents a result of a search for contents dataperformed with the search key described above from the commoditydatabase 111-5 which is described below. Further, the notificationhistory information is information of a notification history producedwith regard to the search data.

The commodity database 111-5 includes contents sales promotion data,purchase price data, search frequency data and so forth. While thecommodity database 111-5 here is provided in the distribution center,for example, even where it is actually stored in a system on the recordproduction company side which provides contents data (tunes) ascommodities to the distribution center, it can be utilized effectively.

The contents sales promotion data includes data for sales promotionproduced, for example, in accordance with an intention of theadministrator side based on a search result of contents searched with asearch key described hereinabove. The contents sales promotion data istransferred, for example, when a user accesses the server 1 using itsdistribution terminal apparatus 2 or the like, to the distributionterminal apparatus 2 side, for example, simultaneously contents data isprovided so as to be provided to the user. For example, the user can seeand take the contents of the data into consideration when it purchases atune for itself.

The purchase price data includes information of a purchase price, forexample, of contents data (a tune) for sales promotion and so forth. Thepurchase price data is used in such a case wherein, for example,information of a price of tune data for sales promotion is included ascontents promotion data. The search frequency data includes informationof a frequency in which a search is performed with a search key and soforth. The search frequency data can be used to grasp a tendency of thetaste of the user who utilizes the distribution system. For example, thesearch frequency data can be used to produce contents sales promotiondata effective to the user.

It is to be noted that, while such databases as described above arestored in the server 1, for example, if the storage section 208 of thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 has a sufficient storage capacity,also it is possible to transfer contents of the databases from theserver 1 to the distribution terminal apparatus 2 so that they may bestored into the distribution terminal apparatus 2. This makes itpossible, for example, to perform such warehouse management of contentsas hereinafter described or provision of a service in conformity to thetaste of a user independently for each of the distribution terminalapparatus 2.

Since the databases have such contents as described above, in thepresent embodiment, it can be grasped, for example, the right ofcontents data of what tune has been purchased by a user.

Also the deposit situation in the warehouse of contents data whose righthas been purchased can be managed.

In this manner, in the present embodiment, a right of contents data of atune is an object of a trade and such rights are stored into and managedas a database. Further, contents data whose right is purchased can bedeposited/drawn out making use of a tune warehouse provided in thedistribution center side.

Consequently, for example, if a user downloads many contents data untilthe capacity of the recording medium owned by the user side becomesshort, then if one of the contents data stored in the recording mediumat present is selected suitably and moved so as to be deposited into thewarehouse, then the contents data is deleted from the recording mediumas much and the capacity increases as much, and consequently, favoritecontents data can be purchased and downloaded newly. However, since thecontents data deleted from the recording medium is deposited in the tunewarehouse, the proprietary right of the user is secured, and if such anoperation as described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4Cis performed, then the contents data can be drawn out from the tunewarehouse and re-downloaded. In other words, even if the capacity of themedium owned by the user side is not very great, the user need not giveup contents data in the past with an intention to store new contentsdata.

As an example, it is assumed that a user who owns a portable terminalapparatus 3 goes, for example, to a remote place and wants to listen toa certain tune (contents data). In this instance, the user can make useof a distribution terminal apparatus 2 installed, for example, in a nearplace to download the contents data of the tune so as to be returnedfrom the tune warehouse. Here, if the free capacity of the portableterminal apparatus 3 is not sufficient, then the user can first depositcontents, which are discriminated unnecessary at present, into the tunewarehouse and then download the contents data desired by the user so asto purchase or return the contents data from the tune warehouse.

Further, management of rights of contents data purchased by a user andthe warehouse of the user is performed by the distribution center sidesuch as, for example, by the server 1.

Even if a user is notified, for example, that the responsibility formanagement of contents data after purchase of its right should be takenby the user, the contents data may be lost with a high degree ofpossibility for some reasons of the user side. In this instance, forexample, according to a conventional contract based on the “purchase perdownload”, in order for the user to acquire the lost contents data, theuser purchases and downloads the contents data again. According to thepresent embodiment, however, since the right of contents data lost bythe user remains on the distribution center side, such a countermeasureas re-downloading can be adopted readily, for example, without any costor with a cost lower than that upon ordinary purchase of the right. Inother words, the distribution center side has also a backup function forcontents data whose right is purchased by a user.

Further, since contents data has a considerably great data size,depending upon the quality of the communication network, the possibilitythat, upon actual downloading, the transfer may be interrupted,resulting in failure of the downloading, is not necessarily low. Also inthis instance, the user can download the contents data again, forexample, without any monetary loss.

In this manner, according to the present embodiment, such a merit to auser that cannot be obtained by a trade of contents data by the“purchase per download” till now can be provided. Further, thedistribution center side can incidentally impose a charge by provisionof a tune warehouse, and business of a form which is quite novel can beproceeded.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the user taste database 111-4is provided and associated with the commodity database 111-5, thetendency of the taste of each of users who utilize the data distributionsystem and the tendency of the taste of the entire users can be graspedand managed. Further, as described hereinabove, it is possible for thedistribution side to perform effective sales promotion based on theinformation of the taste obtained in this manner.

Particularly in the present embodiment, contents of information storedin the user taste database 111-4 include also contents of informationstored in the deposit situation database 111-2 as described hereinabovewith reference to FIG. 5.

For example, in the case of the “purchase per download”, only the tastebased on a history of contents data purchased by a user can be grasped.In other words, such information of how frequently, for example, a userenjoys a tune as downloaded contents data cannot be obtained.

In contrast, according to the present embodiment, a utilizationsituation of contents data of a user after downloaded can be graspedcomparatively particularly from information contents of the user tastedatabase 111-4 produced based on information stored in the depositsituation database 111-2. For example, based on the deposit situationinformation, it can be grasped what contents data a user-deposits in thewarehouse and what contents data the user takes in the portable terminalapparatus 3 side of the user him/herself. On the other hand, based onthe deposit history data included in the deposit situation information,it can be grasped what contents are stored for a long period time in theportable terminal apparatus 3 side and on the contrary what contents aredeposited for a long period of time in the tune warehouse. Also afrequency of deposition/drawing out of certain contents data can begrasped.

For example, contents data which are kept drawn out for a long period oftime in the portable terminal apparatus 3 without being deposited in thetune warehouse or which are transferred frequently between the tunewarehouse and the portable terminal apparatus 3 side can be handled ascontents data which are enjoyed frequently by the user. On the contrary,such contents data which are left deposited in the tune warehouse for along period of time can be handled as contents data in which the user isnot interested very much. In this manner, according to the presentembodiment, a particular taste of a user can be grasped from autilization situation of its tune warehouse, and sales promotion can beperformed based on such tastes. In other words, sales promotion datahaving a higher appealing degree to users can be produced.

2. Contents Purchasing Process

In the foregoing, purchase of a right of contents data anddepositing/returning of contents data into/from a tune warehouse aredescribed as an example of a utilization form of the data distributionsystem, and an example of structure of the databases 111 possessed bythe distribution center side (server 1) is described above. Thedatabases 111 are accessed from a portable terminal apparatus 3 andupdated in response to purchase of a right of contents data ordepositing/returning of contents data into/from a tune warehouse.

Thus, processing-regarding purchase of a right of contents data,depositing/returning of contents data into/from a tune warehouse andupdating of the databases based on such purchase or depositing/returningis described.

FIG. 6 is a process transition diagram illustrating processes of thedistribution center side and the user side when a right of contents datais purchased. Here, the processes of the user side are processes on theportable terminal apparatus 3 side and are executed by the controlsection 311. Meanwhile, the processes of the distribution center sideare processes typically of the server 1 and are executed by the controlsection 101. Where the portable terminal apparatus 3 is connected to thedistribution terminal apparatus 2, the distribution terminal apparatus 2functions to mediate the portable terminal apparatus 3 and the server 1for communication and actually transfers data to be transmitted betweenthe portable terminal apparatus 3 and the server 1. Processes for thisare executed by the control section 207 in the inside of thedistribution terminal apparatus 2. On the other hand, when the portableterminal apparatus 3 and the server 1 communicate directly with eachother, the processes of the distribution center side are completed bythe processes of the server 1.

For example, if it is assumed that the user of the portable terminalapparatus 3 performs a predetermined operation for the portable terminalapparatus 3 (or the distribution terminal apparatus 2) to designatecertain contents data and issue a request to purchase a right of thecontents data, then the purchase request is transmitted from theportable terminal apparatus 3 on the user side to the distributioncenter in step S101. The distribution center receives the purchaserequest in step S102. Then in step S103, the distribution centertransmits a user confirmation request to the user side.

The user side receives the user confirmation request in step S104 andtransmits authentication data in step S105. Here, as the authenticationdata, for example, a user ID allocated to the user who owns the portableterminal apparatus 3 and conveyed to the user or stored in the portableterminal apparatus 3 is transmitted.

The distribution center side receives the authentication data in stepS106 and performs an authentication process in step S107. As theauthentication process, for example, the distribution center sideperforms comparison between the user ID stored on the distributioncenter side and the user ID transmitted thereto or the like todiscriminate whether or not the user (portable terminal apparatus 3)which has accessed the distribution center side is a legal one. Then,for example, if an affirmative result of the authentication is obtained,then the processing advances to step S108, in which the distributioncenter side transmits a purchase confirmation request to the user side.

It is to be noted that, in an actual authentication process, forexample, as information to be transmitted from the portable terminalapparatus 3 side, for example, a portable terminal ID allocated so as tobe unique to each portable terminal apparatus 3 may be transmitted inplace of a user ID. Further, actually information for authentication maybe enciphered and transmitted and received while key information and soforth for deciphering the cipher is prepared and transmitted.

The user side receives the purchase confirmation request in step S109and issues a notification of a tune to be purchased, for example, as apurchase confirmation process, for example, in next step S110. Inparticular, as an actual process, the user side transmits a contents IDprovided to the contents data (tune) selectively designated by anoperation of the user to the distribution center side. It is to be notedthat, in this instance, for example, a plurality of contents data may bedesignated as contents data to be purchased at a time, and in step S110,contents IDs of the plurality of contents data may be transmitted.

The distribution center side receives the contents ID transmittedthereto and searches the contents data stored in the distribution centerside for contents data specified by the received contents ID. In thisinstance, the control section 101 controls the search section 103 tosearch the contents data stored in the storage section 102. If theportable terminal apparatus 3 is connected to the distribution terminalapparatus 2 and the contents data is stored in the storage section 208of the distribution terminal apparatus 2, then the contents data storedin the storage section 208 may naturally be searched.

After the search for the object contents data is performed in step S112as described above, the distribution center side transmits the searchedout contents data and management data in next step S113. It is to benoted that, although details of the management data are hereinafterdescribed, the management information has information contents withwhich contents to be copied or moved between the server 1, adistribution terminal apparatus 2 and a portable terminal apparatus 3 ofthe data distribution system can be managed. In the followingdescription, such management data may be referred to also as TOC (Tableof Contents). TOC corresponds to the FAT. (File Allocation Table) in theMS-DOS.

The user side (portable terminal apparatus 3) starts reception of thecontents data and the TOC transmitted thereto in such a manner asdescribed above in step S114 and then stores the contents data and theTOC into the storage section 320 in step S115 while continuing thereception of the contents data and the TOC.

Here, the distribution center side transmits a download end confirmationrequest at a predetermined timing after the contents data and the TOCare transmitted in step S113. The portable terminal apparatus 3 sidewhich is the user side receives the download end confirmation request instep S117 and then performs end confirmation, for example, in step S118at a point of time when reception and storage of the contents data andthe TOC is completed. Then, the portable terminal apparatus 3 sidetransmits an end notification indicating that the downloading is endedin step S119.

The distribution center side receives the end notification in step S120.Consequently, it is confirmed by the distribution center that thedownloading of the contents data at present has completed appropriately.

Then, the distribution center side modifies the databases in accordancewith a result of the processes in next step S121. In particular, forexample, the contents purchase database 111-1 is updated first.Consequently, it is settled that the user has a right of the contentsdata downloaded this time, and thereafter, management is performed bythe distribution center side. It is to be noted that, even if actually adownloading process of contents data should result in failure, thedistribution center side produces the databases so as to manage that theright of the contents data is possessed by the user.

Then, for example, in next step S122, accounting setting regarding theright of the contents data purchased this time is performed. Forexample, an amount of money to be imposed is set in accordance with thecontents, and in order that the imposed amount of money may becollected, the number of a credit card or an account number inputted bythe user is enciphered and transmitted together with the information ofthe imposed amount of money, for example, over the accountingcommunication network 5. For example, actually the userauthentication/accounting settlement database 111-3 is produced orupdated incidentally.

After the processes up to step S122 are completed in this manner, thedistribution center side transmits a purchase completion notification tothe user side in step S123. As the user side receives the purchasecompletion notification in step S124, it can confirm that the rightpurchase contract of the contents data has been concluded.

3. Contents Depositing Process

In the foregoing, processing when contents data which is stored in thestorage section 320 of a portable terminal apparatus 3 and thuspossessed by the user side is deposited into the tune warehouse isdescribed with reference to a processing transition diagram of FIG. 7.

In this instance, the user side (portable terminal apparatus 3) firsttransmits a request to deposit contents data into its tune warehouse tothe distribution center side, for example, in response to apredetermined operation of the user in step S201. The distributioncenter receives the request in step S202 and transmits a userconfirmation request to the user side in step S203. Here, the processesin steps S203 to S207 are similar to those in the processing forauthentication described hereinabove in connection with steps S103 toS107 of FIG. 6, and therefore, overlapping description of them isomitted herein to avoid redundancy. Then, for example, if an affirmativeresult of the user authentication is obtained in step S207, then thedistribution center side transmits a deposit contents confirmationrequest to the user side in step S208.

The user side receives the deposit contents confirmation request in stepS209 and transmits a contents ID of the contents data designated to bedeposited this time in step S210. In this instance, for example, aplurality of contents IDs may be transmitted so that a plurality ofcontents data may be deposited.

The distribution center side receives the contents ID corresponding tothe tune to be deposited in step S211 and refers to the contents of thedatabases relating to the user in step S212. Here, the distributioncenter side checks, for example, whether or not a right of the contentsdata of an object of the request for deposit has been purchased by theuser in accordance with an appropriate procedure and further checks, forexample, if the contract is such that the capacity of the tune warehouseis set and allocated fixedly, the free capacity of the tune warehousecapacity allocated to the user and so forth based on the warehousecapacity information. Then, if it is discriminated from a result of thechecks that the contents data can be deposited, then the distributioncenter side issues a notification of approval of the deposit to the userside.

The user side (portable terminal apparatus 3) receives the notificationof approval of the deposit in step S214 and executes, in next step S215,for example, a process for erasing the contents data designated as anobject of the deposit this time from the contents data stored in thestorage section 320 of the portable terminal apparatus 3.

After the data erasure is completed, the user side issues, in step S216,a notification that erasure of the contents data has been performed. Inthis instance, for example, at least the stored contents of the storagesection 320 of the portable terminal apparatus 3 are changed. To thisend, for example, in the portable terminal apparatus 3, updating of theTOC used for management of the contents data recorded in the storagesection 320 is performed actually. Further, for example, the updated TOCis transmitted in this instance. Consequently, for example, the server 1on the distribution center side or the distribution terminal apparatus 2side can utilize the TOC transmitted thereto from the portable terminalapparatus 3 to produce a TOC wherein at least the contents data storedin and managed by the server 1 or distribution terminal apparatus 2itself and the contents data stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3for the individual personal users can be managed in a coordinatedrelationship with each other.

Although the erasure processing of the contents data merely is rewritingof the TOC which is management data, where the storage medium of theportable terminal apparatus 3 typically is a flash memory or a likememory which does not allow overwriting, the control section 311 mayactually execute a process of erasing the stored contents from the flashmemory.

The distribution center side receives the contents erasure notificationin step S217 and executes the following process in nest step S218.

In particular, in step S218, the distribution center side first updatesthe databases in accordance with a result of the processes describedabove. Here, the distribution center side updates the deposit situationdatabase 111-2 for the tune warehouse management so that the contentsdata which has been deposited this time is managed as being present inthe tune warehouse. Here, since erasure of the contents data to bedeposited has been performed by the processing in preceding step S215 bythe portable terminal apparatus 3 side, it seems, for example, to theuser who has the portable terminal apparatus 3 that the contents datahas been transferred so as to be moved from the portable terminalapparatus 3 to the distribution center side and deposited into the tunewarehouse.

Further, in step S218, if the deposit of the contents data this timegives rise to a change in the imposed amount of money for the warehousemanagement, then the distribution center side performs an accountingsetting process and further performs updating of the userauthentication/accounting settlement database 111-3.

After the process in step S218 is completed, the distribution centerside transmits a deposit confirmation notification to the user side instep S219. As the user side receives the deposit confirmationnotification in step S220, it can confirm that the processing fordepositing of the contents data of an object of the request this timehas come to an end regularly.

4. Contents Returning Process

In the foregoing, processing when contents data which is deposited inthe tune warehouse is returned to the portable terminal apparatus 3 sideis described with reference to a processing transition diagram of FIG.8.

Also in this instance, the user side first transmits a request to returncontents data deposited in the tune warehouse, for example, in responseto an operation of the user in step S301.

The distribution center receives the request in step S302 and transmitsa user confirmation request to the user side in step S303. Also in thisinstance, the processes in steps S303 to S307 are similar to those inthe processing for user authentication described hereinabove inconnection with steps S103 to S107 of FIG. 6.

Then, if an affirmative result of the user authentication is obtained instep S307, then the distribution center side transmits a confirmationrequest of the contents data to be returned from the tune warehouse tothe portable terminal apparatus 3 side by the user in step S308. Theuser side receives the confirmation request in step S309 and issues anotification of a contents ID of the contents data to be returned innext step S310.

The distribution center side receives the contents ID in step S311 andrefers to the contents of the databases managed with the user ID of theuser based on the contents ID to confirm whether or not the contentsdata of an object of the request for returning may be permitted toreturn in step S312. For example, the distribution center side refers tothe contents purchase database 111-1 and the deposit situation database111-2 to confirm whether or not a right of the contents data of theobject of the request for returning is possessed by the user at presentand is managed as being kept in the tune warehouse at present, and soforth.

Then, for example, if it is discriminated from a result of theprocessing in step S312 that the contents data of the object of therequest may be permitted to return, then the distribution center sidesearches, for example, where the server 1 performs the processing, thecontents data storage area 110 of the storage section 102 for thecontents data of the object of the request in next step S313. Then innext step S314, the distribution center side transfers a copy of thesearched out contents data and transmits the TOC whose contents arechanged by the transfer.

The user side starts reception of the contents data and the TOCtransmitted thereto in step S315 and then continuously executes, in nextstep S316, the reception of the data and storage of the data into thestorage section 320.

Then in the following steps S317 to S321, processing similar to, forexample, the mutual confirmation processing for ending downloadingdescribed above as the processes in steps S116 to S120 with reference toFIG. 6 is executed.

The distribution center side receives the ending notificationtransmitted from the user side in step S321 and updates the databases innext step S322. If the returning of the contents data to the portableterminal apparatus 3 side gives rise to a change in the imposed amountof money, then the distribution center side performs an accountingsetting process. The process in step S322 is similar to that in stepS218 of FIG. 7. In particular, the distribution center side changes thecontents of the deposit situation database 111-2 so that the warehousemanagement may be performed on the distribution center side, forexample, as the contents data has been returned from the tune warehouseto the portable terminal apparatus 3.

After the process in step S322 is completed, the distribution centerside transmits a deposit confirmation notification to the user side instep S323 to notify that the processing of returning the contents datahas come to an end regularly. As the user side (portable terminalapparatus 3) receives the deposit confirmation notification in stepS324, it can confirm that the processing for returning the contents datahas come to an end regularly.

5. Management Data of the Embodiment

5-1. Example of Management Data Structure

In the processing operations described hereinabove with reference toFIGS. 6, 7 and 8, it is indicated that, when copying or movement ofcontents data is performed between the distribution center side and theuser side, also transmission/reception of the TOC (management data) isperformed.

The TOC has a predetermined structure and is stored, for example, in thestorage section of each of the apparatuses (server 1, distributionterminal apparatus 2 and portable terminal apparatus 3) which forms thedata distribution system. The TOC is read out and utilized suitably whennecessary.

The TOC read out is used not only to display such operation screens asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B and 4C but alsoto search and access contents data stored in the server 1 or thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 in response to a request from the user(portable terminal apparatus 3) side. Further, in the presentembodiment, for example, such operation screens as described above withreference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B and 4C can be outputted, for example,on the distribution center side, from the distribution terminalapparatus 2 by itself even in another environment wherein the portableterminal apparatus 3 is not mounted and consequently the TOC cannot beacquired from the portable terminal apparatus 3. This arises from thefact that the TOC in the present embodiment is so structured that theTOC contents for management of contents data stored on each of theapparatuses (server 1, distribution terminal apparatus 2 and portableterminal apparatus 3) which forms the data distribution system and theTOC contents for management of contents data stored in at least one kindof the other apparatus are associated with each other. In other words,the TOC in the present embodiment does not have contents which arecomplete and independent of each other among the server 1, distributionterminal apparatus 2 and portable terminal apparatus 3, but has contentscommon between different ones of the server 1, distribution terminalapparatus 2 and portable terminal apparatus 3.

FIGS. 9A to 9E illustrate a concept of contents data management amongthe apparatuses which form the data distribution system with such TOC inthe present embodiment as described above.

In FIG. 9A, actual addresses of those contents data stored in thestorage section 102 of the server 1 which can be accessed by theportable terminal apparatus 3 or the distribution terminal apparatus 2are illustrated. In FIG. 9B, actual addresses of contents data stored inthe storage area (storage section 208) of the distribution terminalapparatus 2 are illustrated. In FIG. 9C, actual addresses of contentsdata stored in the storage area (storage section 320) of the portableterminal apparatus 3 are illustrated. In order to execute awriting/reading out process of contents data is performed independentlyfor each of the portable terminal apparatus 3, distribution terminalapparatus 2 and server 1, such actual addresses are utilized directly.

It is considered that, as the TOC in the present embodiment, a first TOCillustrated in FIG. 9D and a second TOC illustrated in FIG. 9E areavailable.

The first TOC is composed of the server TOC corresponding to the server1 and the first distribution terminal TOC corresponding to adistribution terminal apparatus 2. The first TOC is possessed commonlyby the server 1 and the distribution terminal apparatus 2.

The server TOC is produced, for example, by replacing the actualaddresses of the accessible area of the server 1 with “virtual addresses(logical addresses)” prescribed so as to allow processing on thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 side as well. Similarly, the firstdistribution terminal TOC is produced by replacing the actual addressesof the storage area of a distribution terminal apparatus 2 with virtualaddresses.

In short, the first TOC has the server TOC and the first distributionterminal TOC both described with the virtual addresses. In other words,contents data stored in the server and the contents data stored in thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 are managed with the single TOC calledfirst TOC.

Thus, contents data stored in the server 1 and accessible from anotherapparatus and contents data stored in the distribution terminalapparatus 2 can be managed in a centralized manner by referring to thecontents of the first TOC. Then, if the first TOC is referred to, then,for example, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 can access not onlythe contents stored in the storage section 208 of the distributionterminal apparatus 2 itself but also the contents stored in the storagesection 102 of the server 1.

Further, in order to produce and display a center contents list asillustrated, for example, in FIGS. 3A and 3B on the distributionterminal apparatus 2, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 can executethe operation by itself without accessing the server 1 to acquire theTOC. Since this eliminates the necessity for transmission/reception ofthe TOC to/from the server 1, for example, reduction of the time untilthe operation screen is displayed and reduction of the burden of thecommunication processing can be anticipated.

The second TOC is possessed commonly by the distribution terminalapparatus 2 side and the portable terminal apparatus 3 side andconsequently is formed from the second distribution terminal TOC and theportable terminal TOC as seen from FIG. 9E. Also in this instance, thesecond distribution terminal TOC is produced by replacing the actualaddresses of the storage area of the distribution terminal apparatus 2with virtual addresses which allow processing also on the portableterminal apparatus 3 side. The portable terminal TOC is produced byreplacing the actual addresses of the storage area of the portableterminal apparatus 3 with virtual addresses which allow processing alsoon the distribution terminal apparatus 2 side.

Thus, contents data stored in the distribution terminal apparatus 2 andcontents data stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3 can be managedin a centralized manner with the second TOC described above. In thisinstance, if the second TOC is referred to, then, for example, theportable terminal apparatus 3 can access not only the contents stored initself but also the contents stored in the distribution terminalapparatus 2.

Further, if ID information with which a user or a portable terminalapparatus 3 can be specified such as a user ID or a portable terminal IDunique to the portable terminal apparatus 3 is inputted to thedistribution terminal apparatus 2, then the distribution terminalapparatus 2 by itself can display such an operation screen as shown inFIGS. 3A and 3B without acquiring the TOC from the portable terminalapparatus 3.

FIGS. 10 and 11 show data structures of the first TOC and the second TOCdescribed above, respectively. It is to be noted that the structuresshown in FIGS. 10 and 11 are conceptive structures at all, and forexample, the first TOC and the second TOC may actually have any formonly if contents data stored in those apparatuses which at least use thecommon TOC are managed with virtual addresses which allow processingamong the apparatuses.

The first TOC has a user ID placed at the top position thereof as seen,for example, in FIG. 10 and accordingly is information corresponding toeach user.

Below the user ID, the server TOC and the first distribution terminalTOC are placed in parallel. The server TOC includes a server ID, whichis unique to each server, placed at the top thereof and thus specifies aserver. Contents managed by the server indicated by the server ID areplaced below the server ID. The contents data stored in the actualstorage area are managed, for example, in such a form that virtualaddresses are coordinated with contents IDs as seen in FIG. 10.Similarly, the first distribution terminal TOC has a distributionterminal ID, which is unique to each distribution terminal apparatus 2,placed at the top thereof such that the distribution terminal apparatus2 which has the first distribution terminal TOC is specified with thedistribution terminal ID. Below the distribution terminal ID, contentsIDs of contents data stored in the distribution terminal apparatus 2 andvirtual addresses are placed in a coordinated relationship.

Also with the second TOC, a user is specified with the user ID placed atthe top as seen in FIG. 11. Below the user ID, the second distributionterminal TOC and the portable terminal TOC are placed.

The second distribution terminal TOC has a distribution terminal IDplaced at the top thereof as seen in FIG. 11, and below the distributionterminal ID, contents IDs and the virtual addresses are stored in acoordinated relationship. Similarly, the portable terminal TOC has aportable terminal ID, which is unique to each portable terminalapparatus 3, placed at the top thereof and specifies the portableterminal apparatus 3 which has the portable terminal TOC. Below theportable terminal ID, contents IDs of contents stored in the portableterminal apparatus 3 and virtual addresses are stored in a coordinatedrelationship.

5-2. Example of Data Distribution Process Based on Management Data

In the processing operations of FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, principallycommunication processing regarding purchase and downloading of a rightof contents data and depositing/returning of contents data into/from atune warehouse is illustrated.

Thus, processing operation principally of accessing with the TOCdescribed above upon downloading of contents data when, for example,purchase of (a right of) contents data or returning of contents datafrom a tune warehouse is described below.

FIG. 12 illustrates processes of the server 1, a distribution terminalapparatus 2 and a portable terminal apparatus 3 when the portableterminal apparatus 3 downloads contents data from the server 1 on thepremise that the portable terminal apparatus 3 is connected to thedistribution terminal apparatus 2. The processing of the server 1 isexecuted by the control section 101, and the processing of thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 is executed by the control section207. The processing of the portable terminal apparatus 3 is executed bythe control section 311.

Also it is a premise that the first TOC is stored in the storagesections (102 and 208) of the server 1 and the distribution terminalapparatus 2 and the second TOC is stored in the storage sections (208and 320) of the distribution terminal apparatus 2 and the portableterminal apparatus 3.

Upon downloading of contents data, the portable terminal apparatus 3first waits that a request for downloading is received in step S401.

Then, for example, if a request for downloading is received as a resultof an operation performed by the user for starting downloading with atune as contents designated, then the processing advances to step S402.In this instance, the first TOC and the second TOC are possessedcommonly by the distribution terminal apparatus 2 connected to theportable terminal apparatus 3 and the server 1 as described hereinabove.

Since the second TOC described hereinabove with reference to FIG. 11 isstored in the portable terminal apparatus 3, the user ID and theportable terminal ID stored in the second TOC are transmitted to thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 in step S402. The user ID and theportable terminal ID are used, for example, for an authenticationprocess on the distribution terminal apparatus 2 side. In step S402,also the contents ID of the contents data designated as an object ofdownloading is transmitted together with the user ID and the portableterminal ID.

Although the portable terminal apparatus 3 updates the second TOCpossessed by itself based on data transmitted from the distributionterminal apparatus 2 side in such a manner as hereinafter described, instep S403 next to step S402, the portable terminal apparatus 3 executesa process for partitioning of the storage section 320 so that, forexample, the second TOC updated by the portable terminal apparatus 3 canbe stored into the storage section 320.

Thereafter, in step S404, the portable terminal apparatus 3 transmits,from within the second TOC possessed by the portable terminal apparatus3 at present, the portable terminal TOC which is contents of the TOCregarding at least the contents stored in the portable terminalapparatus 3 itself.

Meanwhile, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 side first waits instep S431 that a request for downloading is received from the portableterminal apparatus 3 side. Then, when the distribution terminalapparatus 2 confirms reception of information transmitted by theprocessing of the portable terminal apparatus 3 side in steps S402 andS404, it discriminates that a downloading request has been received andthus advances its processing to next step S432.

In step S432, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 performs anauthentication process regarding whether or not the portable terminalapparatus 3 which has transmitted the downloading request is a legalone. This can be realized, as in the processing operations describedhereinabove with reference to FIGS. 6,7 and 8, for example, bycomparison between the user ID and the portable terminal ID transmittedas a result of the processing in step S402 and the user ID and theportable terminal ID possessed by the distribution terminal apparatus 2side. Alternatively, also it is possible to use the contents IDtransmitted as a result of the processing in step S402 for theauthentication process. In other words, if the portable terminalapparatus 3 is not a legal one, then the contents ID transmittedtherefrom does not have a form which allows management by thedistribution center side, and therefore, the contents ID can be utilizedfor the authentication process.

Then, if an affirmative result that the portable terminal apparatus 3connected to the distribution terminal apparatus 2 at present is a legalone is obtained in step S432, then the processing advances to step S433.It is to be noted that, though not illustrated in FIG. 12, if anaffirmative authentication result is not obtained, then, for example, awarning is displayed on the display section and no further processing isexecuted.

Although the server 1 stores all contents data which can be providedfrom the distribution center, in the present embodiment, thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 stores the contents data received fromthe server 1, for example, by downloading processes till then in thestorage section 208 of the distribution terminal apparatus 2 itself.

Thus, in step S433, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 searches thecontents data stored in the storage section 208 of the distributionterminal apparatus 2 itself for contents data indicated by the contentsID received in preceding step S431. This is performed by referring, forexample, to the second distribution terminal TOC of the second TOC orthe first distribution terminal TOC of the first TOC stored in the samestorage section 208.

Then in next step S434, the distribution terminal apparatus 2discriminates whether or not the contents data is present in the storagesection 208 in the distribution terminal apparatus 2 as a result of thesearch in step S433. Then, if an affirmative result is obtained in stepS434, then the processing advances to step S435, but if a negativeresult is obtained, then the processing advances to step S438.

In step S435, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 transmits the userID, distribution terminal ID and portable terminal ID from within thecontents of the second TOC of the distribution terminal apparatus 2itself and transfers the contents ID which exhibits a hit upon thesearch and a virtual address coordinated with the contents ID to theportable terminal apparatus 3. Then in next step S436, the distributionterminal apparatus 2 reads out the searched out contents data from thestorage section 208 and transfers the read out contents data to theportable terminal apparatus 3.

When the distribution terminal apparatus 2 reads out the contents datafrom the storage section 208, it first searches for a virtual address ofthe distribution terminal TOC of the second TOC coordinated with thecontents ID transmitted from the portable terminal apparatus 3. Then,the control section 207 converts the virtual address into acorresponding actual address of the storage section 208 and accesses theactual address to read out the contents data. In other words, thecontrol section 207 has a logical to physical address conversionfunction of converting a virtual address into an actual address of thestorage section 208.

The portable terminal apparatus 3 waits, in step S405, for reception ofinformation transmitted as a result of the processing in step S435. Ifsuch information is received, then the portable terminal apparatus 3waits, in step S406, that the contents data transferred as a result ofthe processing in step S436 is received. Then, if it is discriminatedthat such contents data is received, then the processing advances tostep S407.

In step S407, the portable terminal apparatus 3 executes controlprocessing for writing the received contents data into the storagesection 320. Then, when the storage of the contents data is completed,the portable terminal apparatus 3 updates the second TOC in next stepS408. In particular, the portable terminal apparatus 3 updates contentsof the portable terminal TOC of the second TOC so that the contents datastored in the storage section 320 as a result of the processing in stepS407 may be reflected on the contents of the TOC and further updates the(second) distribution terminal TOC of the second TOC making use of theinformation (distribution terminal ID, contents ID and virtual address(of the distribution terminal apparatus 2)) received in step S405.

Also on the distribution terminal apparatus 2 side, updating of contentsof the second TOC is performed in a similar manner after contents dataare transmitted in step S436 described above. Accordingly, at least inthis stage, the contents of the second TOC possessed commonly by theportable terminal apparatus 3 and the distribution terminal apparatus 2match with each other. However, the contents updated finally in stepS408 are not reflected on the second TOC stored in the distributionterminal apparatus 2.

On the other hand, if a negative result is obtained in step S434 and theprocessing advances to step S438, then the distribution terminalapparatus 2 thereafter performs accessing for acquiring contents datafrom the server 1. Thus, in this step S438, the distribution terminalapparatus 2 first transfers the user ID, the server ID and thedistribution terminal ID described in the first TOC and the distributionterminal TOC of the first TOC to the server 1. Further, the distributionterminal apparatus 2 transmits the contents ID designated from theportable terminal apparatus 3 this time.

The server 1 side first waits, in step S451, that a downloading requesttransferred from the distribution terminal apparatus 2 side is received.Then, when the server 1 receives the information transferred as a resultof the processing in step S438 described above, it determines that adownloading request has been received, and advances its processing tostep S452.

In step S452, the server 1 searches for contents data. If contents dataare deposited in the server 1, then the server 1 refers to the first TOCwhich has the received user ID. Then, the server 1 searches for avirtual address coordinated with the contents ID from within the firstTOC and accesses an actual address of the storage section 102corresponding to the virtual address. Also the control section 101 has alogical to physical address conversion function similarly as describedhereinabove. On the other hand, upon purchase of a right of contentsdata, the server 1 searches for the received contents ID from within theserver TOCs of all of the first TOCs stored in the storage section 102.Then, the control section 101 accesses the storage section 102 based onthe virtual address corresponding to the contents ID.

As processing after the search is performed in such a manner asdescribed above, in this instance, the server 1 updates the contents ofthe first TOC in step S453. Here, the server 1 updates the (first)distribution terminal TOC based on the information (user ID,distribution terminal ID, contents ID and distribution terminal TOC ofthe first TOC) received from the distribution terminal apparatus 2 sidein step S451. In particular, the first TOC of the server 1 is updatedwith the latest distribution terminal TOC corresponding to the user IDsuch that the distribution terminal TOC includes the virtual addresscorresponding to the contents ID. Consequently, the server 1 side byitself can grasp what the management of the contents data in thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 which has accessed the server 1 thistime is. However, updated contents by updating (step S444) of thedistribution terminal TOC of the first TOC of the distribution terminalapparatus 2 which is hereinafter described are not updated in step S453.

Thereafter, the server 1 side transmits the user ID, server ID anddistribution terminal ID to the distribution terminal apparatus 2 instep S454 and transmits the server TOC. The server TOC additionally hasthe contents ID of the contents designated as an object of downloadingthis time and a virtual address coordinated with the contents ID andtherefore has contents which allow later accessing to the contentsdirectly by designation of the virtual address without the necessity fora search for the contents ID.

Then in next step S455, the contents data searched out in step S452 isread out from the storage section 102 and transferred to thedistribution terminal apparatus 2.

The distribution terminal apparatus 2 waits, in step S439, for receptionof the information transferred from the server 1 as a result of theprocessing in step S454. If it is discriminated that the information isreceived, then the distribution terminal apparatus 2 advances itsprocessing to step S440, in which it waits for reception of the contentsdata transferred from the server 1 as a result of the processing in stepS455. Then, if it is discriminated in step S440 that the contents datais received, then the processing advances to step S441.

In step S441, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 writes the contentsdata received in step S440 into the storage section 208 of thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 itself so that the storage section 208may store the contents data. Then in next step S442, the distributionterminal apparatus 2 transfers the user ID, distribution terminal ID,portable terminal ID, contents ID and virtual address received from theserver 1 side in step S439 to the portable terminal apparatus 3. Here,the virtual address is a virtual address reflected on the second TOC inaccordance with the address into which the contents data transferredfrom the server 1 is stored. In other words, the second TOC in theportable terminal apparatus 3 can be updated in accordance with thevirtual address.

Here, in the present embodiment, an example is described whereincontents data is stored also into the storage section 208 of thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 in response to a downloading requestfrom the portable terminal apparatus 3. However, the storage section 208may be utilized only as a transfer buffer for transferring contents datafrom the server 1 to the portable terminal apparatus 3. In thisinstance, the contents data is erased from the storage section 208 afterthe downloading process is completed. Consequently, contents of thedistribution terminal TOC of the corresponding first TOC and thedistribution terminal TOC of the corresponding second TOC are notupdated either.

Then in next step S443, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 transfersthe contents data received in step S440 to the portable terminalapparatus 3.

In response to the contents data, the portable terminal apparatus 3performs the processing in steps S406 et seq. described hereinabove.

After the transfer of the contents data in step S443 comes to an end,the distribution terminal apparatus 2 performs, in next step S444, forexample, replacement of the contents of the server TOC of the first TOCand converts the physical address of the storage section 208 in whichthe contents data transferred from the server 1 is to be stored into avirtual address and then rewrites the contents of the (first)distribution terminal TOC thereby to update the first TOC. Thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 performs updating of the second TOC aswell. Similarly, the distribution terminal apparatus 2 converts thephysical address of the storage section 208 into which contents datatransferred from the server 1 is to be stored into a virtual address andperforms updating of the distribution terminal TOC of the second TOC aswell.

In the present embodiment, such processes as described above areexecuted, for example, upon downloading upon purchase of a right ofcontents data described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B ordownloading upon returning of contents data deposited in the tunewarehouse described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4C. Inthis instance, since management of the contents data is performed, forexample, based on the TOC (first TOC and second TOC) illustrated inFIGS. 9A to 9E, 10 and 11, for example, the user of the portableterminal apparatus 3 can access the information stored in the server 1through the distribution terminal apparatus 2. In this instance, forexample, since the first TOC allows the distribution terminal apparatus2 and the server 1 to commonly have the management information of thecontents individually stored therein, for example, the distributionterminal apparatus 2 by itself can display such a contents list A1 asshown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. Accordingly, the contents list A1 can alwayspresent a list of all of the contents data stored in the server 1 side,and the user of the portable terminal apparatus 3 need not particularlybe conscious whether contents stored in the distribution center side ispresent only on the server 1 side or is stored in the distributionterminal apparatus 2. Further, since also the TOC contents of theportable terminal apparatus 3 are stored as the second TOC in thedistribution terminal apparatus 2, file accessing between the portableterminal apparatus 3 and the distribution terminal apparatus 2 isallowed.

Further, upon returning processing of contents data deposited in thetune warehouse, since the first TOC and the second TOC were updatedalready upon the depositing, the control section 311 of the portableterminal apparatus 3 transmits the user ID, the portable terminal ID,the contents ID and the virtual address of the distribution terminal TOCof the second TOC in step S402. In this instance, the control section207 of the distribution terminal apparatus 2 converts the virtualaddress into an actual address and can access desired contents datadirectly.

Also where the contents data is stored not in the storage section 208 ofthe distribution terminal apparatus 2 but in the storage section 102 ofthe server 1, since the contents ID is registered already in the firstTOC of the distribution terminal apparatus 2, if a virtual addresscorresponding to the contents ID searched out from the first TOC of thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 is transmitted from the distributionterminal apparatus 2 to the server 1, then the server 1 can access thecontents data in the storage section 102 not by a search process for thecontents ID but by an easy process of logical to physical conversion ofan address.

Since the TOCs possessed by the server 1, distribution terminalapparatus 2 and portable terminal apparatus 3 are updated in such amanner as described above, easy direct accessing which includes nosearch can be achieved.

In the first TOCs possessed by the server 1, a distribution terminal TOCincreases in response to a distribution terminal ID with which theserver 1 is accessed newly, and finally, a plurality of distributionterminal TOCs are stored for each user ID.

In the first TOCs possessed by the distribution terminal apparatus 2, aserver TOC increases in response to a server ID with which thedistribution terminal apparatus 2 accesses newly, and finally, aplurality of server TOCs are stored for each user ID.

In the second TOCs possessed by the distribution terminal apparatus 2, aportable terminal TOC increases in response to a new portable terminalapparatus 3 which accesses the distribution terminal apparatus 2, andfinally, a plurality of portable terminal TOCs are stored for each userID.

In the second TOCs possessed by the portable terminal apparatus 3, adistribution terminal TOC increases in response to a new distributionterminal ID with which the portable terminal apparatus 3 accesses, andfinally, a plurality of distribution terminal TOCs are stored for eachuser ID.

6. Modifications

The foregoing description of the present embodiment proceeds oncondition that the server 1 and a distribution terminal apparatus 2commonly have a first TOC and the distribution terminal apparatus 2 anda portable terminal apparatus 3 commonly have a second TOC. However, itis also possible for the server 1, distribution terminal apparatus 2 andportable terminal apparatus 3 to have a single common TOC as a developedform.

FIGS. 13A to 13D illustrate a concept of, for example, such a TOC asjust described.

Also in this instance, similarly as in the TOCs illustrated in FIGS. 9A,9B and 9C, actual addresses of those of contents data stored in thestorage section 102 of the server 1 which can be accessed by theportable terminal apparatus 3 or the distribution terminal apparatus 2are indicated in FIG. 13A, and actual addresses of contents data storedin the storage area (storage section 208) of the distribution terminalapparatus 2 are indicated in FIG. 13B. Further, actual addresses ofcontents data stored in the storage area (storage section 320) of theportable terminal apparatus 3 are indicated in FIG. 13C.

In this instance, the TOC is formed from the server TOC, distributionterminal TOC and portable terminal TOC as seen in FIG. 13D. Here, theserver TOC, distribution terminal TOC and portable terminal TOC havecontents similar to those described hereinabove with reference to FIGS.9D and 9E. The TOC is commonly possessed by the server 1, distributionterminal apparatus 2 and portable terminal apparatus 3.

An example of structure of the TOC is shown in FIG. 14.

Referring to FIG. 14, also in the TOC shown, since it is unique to eachuser which is specified by its user ID, the user ID is placed at thetop. Below the user ID, the server TOC, distribution terminal TOC andportable terminal TOC are placed.

In the server TOC, contents IDs of accessible contents stored in theserver 1 and virtual addresses of the server 1 are placed in acoordinated relationship. Similarly, in the distribution terminal TOC,contents IDs of contents stored in the distribution terminal apparatus 2and virtual addresses of the distribution terminal apparatus 2 arestored in a coordinated relationship, and in the portable terminal TOC,contents IDs of contents stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3 andvirtual addresses of the portable terminal apparatus 3 are stored in acoordinated relationship.

Also where the TOC having such a structure as described above ispossessed commonly by the server 1, distribution terminal apparatus 2and portable terminal apparatus 3, for example, upon downloading ofcontents data, each apparatus can access contents stored in the otherapparatus, for example, in such a manner as described hereinabove withreference to FIG. 12. For example, the portable terminal apparatus 3 canaccess the storage section of the distribution terminal apparatus 2 orthe server 1 in which contents are stored. Further, for example, alsowhen the portable terminal apparatus 3 mutually communicates with theserver 1 without the intervention of the distribution terminal apparatus2, it can readily access contents stored in the server 1.

Since the TOCs possessed by the server 1, distribution terminalapparatus 2 and portable terminal apparatus 3 are updated in such amanner as described above, easy direct accessing which includes nosearch can be achieved.

In the TOCs possessed by the server 1, a distribution terminal TOC or aportable terminal TOC increases in response to a distribution terminalID or a portable terminal ID with which the server 1 is accessed newly,and finally, a plurality of distribution terminal TOCs or a plurality ofportable terminal TOCs are stored for each user ID.

In the TOCs possessed by the distribution terminal apparatus 2, a serverTOC or a portable terminal TOC increases in response to a server ID withwhich the distribution terminal apparatus 2 accesses newly or a portableterminal ID with which the distribution terminal apparatus 2 is accessednewly, and finally, a plurality of server TOCs or a plurality ofportable terminal TOCs are stored for each user ID.

In the TOCs possessed by the portable terminal apparatus 3, adistribution terminal TOC or a server TOC increases in response to adistribution terminal ID or a server ID with which the portable terminalapparatus 3 accesses newly, and finally, a plurality of server TOCs ordistribution terminal TOCs are stored for each user ID.

In the present embodiment, a method of realizing a depositing process byrewriting processing of a TOC when contents data is deposited from theportable terminal apparatus 3 into the distribution terminal apparatus 2or the server 1 is described. Alternatively, however, contentsinformation may actually be moved from the portable terminal apparatus 3to the distribution terminal apparatus 2 or the server 1.

A modification to the data distribution system of the present embodimentis shown in FIG. 15.

Referring to FIG. 15, the system shown includes, as equipments on thedistribution center side, a server 1, an accounting communicationnetwork 5 and a communication network 4. The system further includes, asequipments on the user side, a recording and playback apparatus 6 inaddition to a portable terminal apparatus 3.

The recording and playback apparatus 6 is formed, for example, as anapparatus of the stationary type and installed, for example, in a homeof the user. The recording and playback apparatus 6 is connected to thecommunication network 4 to enable communication with the server 1.Consequently, a trade of a right of contents, incidental downloading ofcontents from the distribution center side and depositing/returningprocessing into/from a tune warehouse, which are performed between thedistribution center side and the portable terminal apparatus 3 in theembodiment described hereinabove, can be performed between the server 1and the recording and playback apparatus 6.

The recording and playback apparatus 6 allows the portable terminalapparatus 3 to be mounted thereon. The recording and playback apparatus6 can communicate with the portable terminal apparatus 3 mounted thereonand, for example, can store contents downloaded from the server 1 andstored in the recording and playback apparatus 6 into the portableterminal apparatus 3 in such a manner as to move to the portableterminal apparatus 3. Also it is possible to conversely transfer andstore contents stored in the portable terminal apparatus 3 to and intothe recording and playback apparatus 6 in such a manner as to move tothe recording and playback apparatus 6.

It is to be noted that the reason why the transfer between the recordingand playback apparatus 6 and the portable terminal apparatus 3 is notcopying but movement is that it is intended to prevent the downloadedcontents from being duplicated by the user side thereby to infringe uponthe copyright of the tune of the contents.

Also it is to be noted that, for example, if the processing illustratedin FIGS. 6 to 8 is applied to the present system, the processing of thedistribution center side is executed by the server 1 while theprocessing of the user side is executed by the recording and playbackapparatus 6.

Also such a system as just described can be configured so as to have aTOC similar to that described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 9A to9E, 10 and 11. In particular, a first TOC composed of a TOC for managingcontents stored in the server 1 and another TOC for managing contentsstored in the recording and playback apparatus 6 is stored in the server1 and the recording and playback apparatus 6, and a second TOC composedof a TOC for managing the contents stored in the recording and playbackapparatus 6 and another TOC for managing the contents stored in theportable terminal apparatus 3 is stored in the recording and playbackapparatus 6 and the portable terminal apparatus 3.

Alternatively, a single TOC composed of a set of TOCs for managingcontents stored in the server 1, recording and playback apparatus 6 andportable terminal apparatus 3 similar to that described hereinabove withreference to FIGS. 13A to 13D and 14 may be stored in each of the server1, recording and playback apparatus 6 and portable terminal apparatus 3.This makes it possible for each of the server 1, recording and playbackapparatus 6 and portable terminal apparatus 3 to access contents storedin the storage section of an object apparatus.

It is to be noted that the present invention is not limited to theembodiment described hereinabove and allows various modifications oralterations. For example, the data distribution system may have adifferent apparatus configuration from those shown in FIGS. 1 and 15.Further, also the data as contents to be distributed by the datadistribution system is not limited to data principally including audiodata as a tune, but various data may be used including, for example,software for a game, video data and text data of a writing such as anovel.

1. A communication system, comprising: a first storage unit configuredto store a plurality of pieces of contents information; a second storageunit configured to store a plurality of pieces of contents information;a control unit configured to control access of at least one piece ofcontents information stored in said first storage unit and said secondstorage unit based on a single set of management information, saidsingle set of management information includes a content ID of the atleast one piece of contents information and corresponding addressinformation that indicates a location where the at least one piece ofcontents information is stored, and manage both said first storage unitand said second storage unit; a communication unit configured tointerconnect said first storage unit, said second storage unit and saidcontrol unit and configured for communication, wherein the at least onepiece of contents information selected by a selection unit istransferred from said second storage unit to said first storage unitthrough said communication unit; an accounting setting unit configuredto set an amount of money to be imposed on a user in response to a useof said second storage unit; an erasure unit configured to erase the atleast one piece of contents information stored in said first storageunit; the control unit further receives a request from the user fortransferring again the at least one piece of content information fromsaid second storage unit to said first storage unit, wherein content IDof the transferred at least one piece of contents information and thecontent ID of the erased at least one piece of contents information insaid first storage unit are the same and managed by said single set ofmanagement information; and said accounting setting unit sets a smalleramount of money than a normal charge to be imposed on the user inresponse to the transferring request.
 2. The communication systemaccording to claim 1, wherein said control unit accesses the at leastone piece of contents information stored at a predetermined physicaladdress of each of said first storage unit and said second storage unitbased on the single set of management information described with alogical address corresponding to the predetermined physical address. 3.The communication system according to claim 1, wherein said control unitsearches the single set of management information for a logical addresscorresponding to the at least one of the plurality of pieces of contentsinformation selected by said selection unit, converts the logicaladdress into a physical address of said second storage unit and accessessaid second storage unit based on the physical address.
 4. Thecommunication system according to claim 1, further comprising: a settingunit configured to set a capacity of use for said second storage unit,and said accounting setting unit sets the amount of money to be imposedon the user in accordance with the capacity of use of the user set bysaid setting unit.
 5. The communication system according to claim 4,wherein said setting unit sets the capacity of use used by the userbased on the single set of management information for managing saidsecond storage unit.
 6. The communication system according to claim 1,wherein said accounting setting unit stores the amount of money to beimposed on the user in accordance with the capacity of use of saidsecond storage unit by the user into a database stored for each user insaid second storage unit.
 7. The communication system according to claim6, wherein at least the amount of money to be imposed on the user and anID of the user are transmitted to an external settlement center.
 8. Thecommunication system according to claim 1, further comprising anauthentication unit configured to verify an access to said secondstorage unit by said control unit.
 9. The communication system accordingto claim 8, wherein said second storage unit stores a plurality of userIDs, and said authentication unit compares the user ID with which saidsecond storage unit is accessed and the plurality of user IDs toauthenticate the user who has accessed said second storage unit.
 10. Acommunication method between a terminal device including a first storagemedium and a server including a second storage medium, comprising:requesting at least one piece of content information by using a singleset of management information, said single set of management informationincludes a content ID of the at least one piece of content informationand corresponding address information that indicates a location wherethe at least one piece of content information is stored; managing bothsaid first storage medium of said terminal device and said secondstorage medium of said server; accessing the at least one piece ofcontent information stored in said first storage medium and said secondstorage medium based on the single set of management information;communicating the requested at least one piece of content informationbetween said first storage medium and said second storage medium;setting an amount of money to be imposed on a user in accordance with ause of said second storage medium; erasing the at least one piece ofcontent information stored in said first storage medium at said terminaldevice; receiving a second request from the user for transferring againthe at least one piece of content information in said second storagemedium to said first storage medium, wherein content ID of thetransferred piece of content information and the content ID of theerased at least one of the plurality of pieces of contents informationin said first storage unit are the same and managed by said single setof management information; and setting a smaller amount of money than anormal charge to be imposed on the user in response to the secondtransferring request.
 11. A distribution apparatus, comprising: astorage unit configured to store a plurality of pieces of contentsinformation; a communication unit configured to connect saiddistribution apparatus for communication to an external apparatus; amanagement information update unit configured to update managementinformation for each user in response to the users request and to storethe updated management information, the management information includingat least a content ID of at least one piece of contents informationrequested by the user and an address information that indicates alocation where the at least one piece of contents information is storedin said storage unit; a control unit configured to access the at leastone piece of contents information requested by the user stored in saidstorage unit based on management information for managing the at leastone piece of contents information stored in said storage unit inresponse to a user request from the external apparatus and to control atransfer of the at least one piece of contents information requested bythe user to the external apparatus via the communication unit; anaccounting setting unit configured to set an amount of money to beimposed on the user who requests for use of said storage unit from theexternal apparatus in response to a use of said storage unit; an erasureunit configured to erase the at least one piece of contents informationstored in the external apparatus; the control unit further receives arequest from the user for transferring again the at least one piece ofcontents information from said storage unit to the external apparatus,wherein content ID of the transferred at least one piece of contentsinformation and the content ID of the erased at least one piece ofcontents information in said storage unit are the same and managed bysaid management information; and said accounting setting unit sets asmaller amount of money than a normal charge to be imposed on the userin response to the transferring request.
 12. The distribution apparatusaccording to claim 11, wherein said control unit accesses the at leastone piece of contents information stored at a predetermined physicaladdress of said storage unit based on the management informationdescribed with a logical address corresponding to the physical address.13. The distribution apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the atleast one piece of contents information selected by the user by means ofa selection unit of the external apparatus may be copied or moved fromsaid storage unit to the external apparatus through said communicationunit.
 14. The distribution apparatus according to claim 13, wherein saidcontrol unit searches for a logical address of the managementinformation corresponding to the at least one piece of contentsinformation selected by the selection means, converts the logicaladdress into a physical address of said storage unit and accesses saidstorage unit based on the physical address.
 15. The distributionapparatus according to claim 11, wherein said accounting setting unitsets an amount of money to be imposed on the user in accordance with acapacity of use of said storage unit by the user.
 16. The distributionapparatus according to claim 15, further comprising: a setting unitconfigured to set a capacity of use for said storage means, and saidaccounting setting unit sets the amount of money to be imposed on theuser in accordance with the capacity of use of the user set by saidsetting unit.
 17. The distribution apparatus according to claim 16,wherein said setting unit sets the capacity of use used by the userbased on the management information for managing said storage unit, andsaid accounting setting unit sets the amount of money to be imposed onthe user in accordance with the capacity of use of the user set by saidsetting unit.
 18. The distribution apparatus according to claim 15,wherein said accounting setting unit stores the amount of money to beimposed on the user in accordance with the capacity of use of saidstorage unit by the user into a database stored for each user in saidstorage unit.
 19. The distribution apparatus according to claim 18,wherein at least the imposed amount of money stored for each user insaid database and an ID of the user are transmitted to an externalsettlement center.
 20. The distribution apparatus according to claim 11,further comprising an authentication unit configured to verify an accessto said storage unit by said control unit.
 21. The distributionapparatus according to claim 20, wherein said storage unit stores aplurality of user IDs, and said authentication unit compares the user IDwith which said storage unit is accessed and the plurality of user IDsto authenticate the user who has accessed said storage unit.
 22. Thedistribution apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the managementinformation further includes an ID of the user.
 23. A distributionmethod for distributing desired contents information in response to auser request between a first apparatus including a first storage mediumand a second apparatus including a second storage medium, comprising:receiving the user request from the second apparatus; updatingmanagement information for each user in response to the user's requestand storing updated management information, the management informationincluding at least a content ID of contents information requested by theuser and an address information that indicates a location where thecontents information is stored in the first storage medium; accessingthe contents information requested by the user stored in said firststorage medium based on management information for managing the contentsinformation stored in said first storage medium in response to a userrequest from the second apparatus; controlling a transfer of thecontents information requested by the user from the first apparatus tothe second apparatus, which stores the requested contents information inthe second storage medium; setting an amount of money to be imposed on auser who requests for use of said first storage medium from the secondapparatus in response to a use said first storage medium; erasing atleast one of a plurality of pieces of contents information stored insaid second storage medium at said second apparatus; receiving a secondrequest from the user for transferring contents information from thefirst apparatus to the second apparatus, wherein content ID of thetransferred contents information and the content ID of the erased atleast one of the plurality of pieces of contents information in thesecond storage medium are the same and managed by said managementinformation: and setting a smaller amount of money than a normal chargeto be imposed on the user in response to the second transferringrequest.
 24. The distribution method according to claim 23, wherein themanagement information further includes an ID of the user.
 25. Acommunication system wherein a terminal apparatus, a distributionterminal apparatus and a server apparatus are interconnected forcommunication, comprising: a first storage medium provided in saidserver apparatus for storing a plurality of pieces of contentsinformation; a second storage medium provided in said distributionterminal apparatus for storing a plurality of pieces of contentsinformation; a third storage medium provided in said terminal apparatusfor storing a plurality of pieces of contents information; a controllerfor controlling accessing to any one of said first, second and thirdstorage mediums based on a single table of contents managementinformation, said single table of contents management informationincludes a content ID of at least one piece of contents information andcorresponding address information that indicates a location where the atleast one piece of contents information is stored, and manages at leasttwo of said first, second, and third storage mediums, wherein saidcontroller is configured to control so that at least one contentsinformation selected by a selection unit may be transferred between saidfirst, second and third storage mediums; an accounting setting unitconfigured to set an amount of money to be imposed on a user inaccordance with a use of said first storage medium; an erasure unitconfigured to erase at least one of the plurality of pieces of contentsinformation stored in said third storage medium; the control unitfurther receives a request from the user for transferring again at leastone of the plurality of pieces of contents information in said firststorage medium to said third storage medium, wherein content ID of thetransferred at least one of the plurality of pieces of contentsinformation in said first storage medium and the content ID of theerased at least one of the plurality of pieces of contents informationin said third storage medium are the same and managed by the singletable of contents management information; and said accounting settingunit sets a smaller amount of money than a normal charge to be imposedon the user in response to the transferring request.
 26. Thecommunication system according to claim 25, wherein the single table ofcontents management information includes first management informationfor managing the plurality of pieces of contents information stored insaid first storage medium and said second storage medium with a singletable of contents, and second management information for managing theplurality of pieces of contents information stored in said secondstorage medium and said third storage medium with another single tableof contents.
 27. The communication system according to claim 26, whereinthe first management information is stored in a storage unit of at leastone of said server apparatus and said distribution terminal apparatus,and the second management information is stored in a storage unit of atleast one of said distribution terminal apparatus and said terminalapparatus.
 28. The communication system according to claim 25, whereinthe single table of contents management information includes sharedmanagement information for managing the plurality of pieces of contentsinformation stored in said first, second and third storage media with asingle table of contents.
 29. The communication system according toclaim 25, wherein said controller accesses one of the plurality ofpieces of contents information stored at a predetermined physicaladdress of each of said first and second storage media based on thesingle table of contents management information described with a logicaladdress corresponding to the predetermined physical address.
 30. Thecommunication system according to claim 29, wherein said controllersearches the single table of contents management information for alogical address corresponding to the at least one of the plurality ofpieces of contents information selected by said selection section,converts the logical address into a physical address of said firststorage medium or said second storage medium and accesses said firststorage medium or said second storage medium based on the physicaladdress.
 31. The communication system according to claim 25, whereinsaid first storage medium is a hard disk and said third storage mediumis a semiconductor memory.
 32. The communication system according toclaim 25, wherein the plurality of pieces of contents information isdigital audio data.
 33. The communication system according to claim 32,wherein the digital audio data is compressed data.
 34. The communicationsystem according to claim 33, wherein the digital audio data is datacompressed in the ATRAC format.